President Joko Widodo's appointment of retired Army general Sutiyoso as State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief is against the principle of political neutrality and could even jeopardize our system of checks and balances.
The retired three-star general is the chairman of a political party supporting Joko. This gives us reason to believe that Joko is merely paying off a debt to the former Jakarta governor – who so far has not gotten anything in return for his political support – and not necessarily because he is the best man for the job.
Handing this kind of job to a person with strong political interests such as party chairman Sutiyoso is dangerous. While we should give the man a chance to prove that our suspicions are unfounded, there remains the possibility that he can abuse his power as the intelligence chief to spy on political rivals and exploit their weaknesses.
Joko should have just appointed a career spook without any political interests. Such a person would likely serve the president and the country better.
The appointment of Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo as the next Indonesian Military (TNI) chief is also problematic.
After former presidents Abdurrahman Wahid and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono were trying hard to make the country's military less Army-dependant by also appointing chiefs from the Navy and Air Force on a rotating basis, we now seem to be back to the situation where the Army is dominating our defense apparatus. In that sense we're back to what we experienced during the New Order era, which can only be classified as a militarist nightmare for the people.
Of course, Joko has not violated any laws by appointing these two men. After all, it is the president's prerogative to nominate candidates to lead these institutions. The House of Representatives is also likely to agree with the nominations, as so far we have not heard any objection from lawmakers.
We surely hope that both Sutiyoso and Gatot can prove us wrong. But until then, we have to remain cautious.
Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/opinion/editorial-two-problematic-appointments-jokowi/