Agung Sandy Lesmana – Officials from the sub-district military command (Koramil) and the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) have removed a banner reading "Sack or impeach the PKI TNI Commander" which appeared in the Menteng suburb of Central Jakarta.
The banner, with a photograph of TNI (Indonesian military) commander General Andika Perkasa, was recorded on film and video and has been circulating on social media.
Menteng sub-district Satpol PP chief Hendra said that the banner was put up on Jalan RP Soeroso in Menteng yesterday afternoon on Sunday April 3.
"In the end we coordinated with Danramil [the sub-district military commander], then we checked and it didn't have permission, and it was put up at a public facility, so in the end we took it down together", Hendra told journalists on Monday April 4.
Hendra said that aside from Menteng, similar banners were put up in several other locations. One of them was in the Tanah Abang area of Central Jakarta.
"There was also [a banner] in Tanah Abang which was checked", he said.
General Perkasa recently became the centre of discussion after amending the selection criteria for accepting candidate TNI soldiers. Under the new regulations, descendents of former Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) members are allowed to join the TNI.
Perkasa announced the decision to change the criteria when he was chairing a meeting to receive TNI Academy Cadets, TNI Carrier Soldiers, TNI Carrier Privates and TNI Carrier Non-Commissioned Officers for the 2022 Budgetary Year.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Marak Muncul Spanduk Panglima TNI PKI di Jakarta Pusat, Koramil dan Satpol PP Turun Tangan Tertibkan!".]
