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Illegal gun purchases reveal more problems
Jakarta Post - July 15, 2016
While the Defense Ministry is supposed to be involved in planning weapons procurement, it actually has no authority as every single step is handled by the Indonesian Military (TNI).
The lack of regulations requiring the military be accountable in weapons procurement has, in a way, promoted illegal gun distribution among military personnel, which allows abuse.
The ministry's procurement center chief Rear Adm. Leonardi said procurement by the TNI was done through careful planning proposed to the ministry.
Each of the three branches of the TNI would detail their needs, including for small weapons, and submit the lists to the Defense Ministry through the TNI commander, Leonardi said. But the Defense Ministry is powerless when the procurements are being made because it cannot monitor the process.
"There is no regulation that allows us to scrutinizing the procurement details. We are only involved in the planning process," Leonardi told The Jakarta Post. "It is up to the military forces to make sure their procurement requests are feasible, or if they actually buy what they need."
Although the ministry has no authority to examine any procurement made by the TNI, the ministry will receive regular updates about all weapons available in each of the forces' branches in order to keep a record of state assets.
"The TNI must give tri-monthly reports about what has been bought, or which weapons need repair, etc," Leonardi explained.
The lack of regulations requiring accountability over weapons procurement in the military raised questions about the institution's efforts to discipline its members, particularly when the TNI implements non-transparent internal mechanisms to prosecute personnel committing irregularities, closing the door against public scrutiny.
Although the illegal gun trade is seen as a serious crime internationally, the TNI treated the case lightly as the institution only imposed disciplinary sanctions on Paspampres members who personally bought firearms from US Army soldier Audi Sumilat.
TNI chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo described those involved in the illegal gun purchase as "undisciplined" soldiers, saying they would receive punishments from their superior, newly appointed Paspampres chief Bambang Suswantono.
Such a mechanism is possible because the military still upholds the 1997 Military Court Law, which hinders military personnel from being prosecuted openly for crimes.
"The US Army soldier [Sumilat] who committed the firearms trafficking crime was brought to an open trial. How come it is not a crime for the Paspampres members who bought the guns from him?" asked Al Araf, a military observer and human rights advocate from Jakarta-based Imparsial.
Al Araf argued that similar disciplinary problems would continue to reoccur if the existing military court law was maintained. "It is not the first time we heard about irregularities in the military. There have been many other cases: Take for example the graft-ridden procurement of MLRS, or the Cebongan Prison attack," he said.
Al Araf was referring to a dubious case involving the purchase of a multi-launch rocket system (MLRS) worth US$405 million from Brazil's Avibras Industria Aeroespacial in mid-2012. Nothing has been heard since the case was revealed to the public last year.
The Cebongan prison attack refers to an attack by members of the Army's special forces (Kopasus) on the Cebongan prison in Yogyakarta over a bar fight with inmates.
The TNI maintained its exclusivity from all state bodies by adopting a military mechanism to internally prosecute irregularities in the institution. This has kept the military immune from scrutiny despite it being the recipient of largest amount of money from the state budget. The ministry is expected to get Rp 108.7 trillion (US$8.2 billion) this year.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/07/14/illegal-gun-purchases-reveal-more-problems.html.
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