Terong (Eggplant): Choose me, Mrs, Mr! I can help out a lot I'm multi-functional!!! He, he, he...
I can cook, clean, sweep up, mop the floor, go shopping, manage the garden, maintain security and so on!!!
Responding to growing public concern that the proposed revisions to the Indonesian Military law (UU TNI) will herald a return to the military's dwi-fungsi (dual socio-political function) that it enjoyed under the New Order dictatorship of former president Suharto, the TNI has tried to reassure the public by saying it does not want a return to dwi-fungsi because it's already "multi-functional".
Speaking at a House of Representatives (DPR) Commission I working meeting on March 13, TNI Commander General Agus Subiyanto said that Law Number 34/2004 on the TNI has not been revised since it was enacted in 2004, and revisions are needed to confront new and emerging threats, both domestic and foreign.
Subiyanto noted TNI's operational environment has undergone many changes both in terms of regulations and government policies, so adjustments to the law are needed.
Subiyanto has also said that that 2004 law is "outdated and ineffectual" arguing that the revisions will broaden the TNI's non-combat functions (operations other than war) and allow officers to serve in government institutions that deal with public prosecution, cyber security, narcotics enforcement and other domestic affairs.
Speaking in response to criticisms over the planned revisions last year, Subianto said that the TNI is currently involved in a wide variety of duties. He also asked the public not to worry about a return of ABRI's dwi-fungsi – referring the TNI's name during the New Order era.
"Now it's not ABRI's dwi-fungsi anymore, ABRI's multi-fungsi. We're [in] everything. There's a disaster, we're there. Right? Please. So don't think like that. Democracy right", Subianto was quoted as saying by Kompas.com at the parliamentary building in Jakarta on June 6.
Subianto gave as an example of the TNI's role in handling the separatist conflict in Papua, where the TNI is involved in providing services ranging from health to education.
"Now in Papua. The ones teaching are my members, the TNI. Then health services, my members. Then do you now call this ABRI's dwi-fungsi or multi-fungsi? We don't think like that. We're for the good of the country", Subianto asserted.
