Ardito Ramadhan, Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan has proposed revising the TNI (Indonesian military) Law so that active TNI officers can hold posts in government ministries and institutions.
"[Revising] the TNI Law is actually one of the things that has been needed since I was the Menko Polhukam [coordinating minister for security], that TNI [officers] be assigned to [government] ministries and institutions at the request of the institution and the president's agreement", said Panjaitan during Retired Army Generals Association (PPAD) national meeting on Friday August 5.
According to Panjaitan, if this is realised, there will no longer be any senior Army officers filling unnecessary posts so the Army's performance will be more efficient.
These senior Army officers, said the retired general, will also no longer need to compete over posts because they can follow a carrier outside of military institutions.
"Actually the TNI can could later play a simpler role, and not all TNI officers will have to become KSADs [Army chiefs of staff], they may well not be KSAD but be in a ministry", said Panjaitan.
Panjaitan added that the stipulations which he is proposing are already valid for active Indonesian police officers who can be assigned to government ministries and institutions.
"So I hope that the TNI in this can along with the Kemhan [Defense Ministry] be able to insert an article such as this into revisions to the TNI Law", he said.
The stipulations on the assignment of TNI officers in government institutions are actually regulated under Article 47 of Law Number 34/2004 on the TNI.
In the first paragraph of the article, it states that soldiers can only occupy civilian posts after they have resigned or retired from active duty.
Then under Paragraph 2 it states that active soldiers can occupy positions only in certain offices such as the Coordinating Ministry for Security, Politics and Legal Affairs, the Defense Department, Presidential Military Secretariat, the State Intelligence Agency, the State Cryptography Agency, the National Resilience Institute, the National Defense Assembly, the Search and Rescue Agency, the National Narcotics Agency and the Supreme Court.
Placement in these institutions is based on a request from the head of a departmental or a non-departmental government institution and submitting to the administrative stipulations which apply in a given government institution.
The appointment and termination of a post for soldiers is carried out in accordance with the organisational needs of the departmental or non-departmental government institution concerned.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Luhut Usul Perwira Aktif TNI Bisa Menjabat di Kementerian/Lembaga".]
