16 October 2008

Indonesian Army Reforms

Indonesia's Army has been very 'Soviet' in that they have for year operated many of their businesses. Now that Indonesia is changing their budgeting and selection processes, reform should follow in the other areas as well.:
Reforming Indonesia’s army, once among the world’s most corrupt and abusive, has been a slow process since the army-backed Suharto regime collapsed ten years ago. A big obstacle to this, and to the country’s democratic progress, has been the forces’ deep involvement in all sorts of businesses, legal and illegal. The income from these sidelines—including plantations, logging, hotels and property development—gave the army an unhealthy degree of independence from the civilian government that supposedly oversees it. With much of the revenue being diverted into senior officers’ pockets, it also allowed them to keep meddling in politics, even after they were stripped of their guaranteed seats in parliament in 2004.


By: Widow 6-7

No comments: