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Indonesian President Asks Military Leaders to Obey Orders
Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has asked leaders of the country's military (TNI) to obey his orders, while promising to increase the welfare of the military personnel, leading national newspapers reported Tuesday.
"We are committed to immediately increasing TNI's welfare, and in turn we ask the TNI to uphold its loyalty to the state, which is represented by the government," Wahid was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying when addressing some 200 commanders of battalion of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) and the Army's Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) in Malang, East Java Province.
The paper quoted Wahid as saying: "You must obey your commanders and your commander must obey the supreme commander, and that is the president."
The president said: "I will not tolerate people in the military who engage in conspiracies. Such people are not professional."
Wahid promised that the government would provide TNI with proper equipment as soon as the country's battered economy recovers.
"I hope there are no more grouping in the Army. I am not going to listen to it," Wahid asserted, asking TNI to back the government diplomatic efforts to deal with threats to the nation's unity, such as the unity in Aceh, Irian Jaya and Maluku.
The call for the loyalty came amid show-down between Wahid and the parliamentarians over his refusal to the motion for interpellation last week. Although Wahid finally apologized to the parliament over what happened in connection with his refusal, scores of parliamentarians could not accept such an apology, saying they will file another motion to the president.
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