"Unkept promise" electronic resource failure to end military business activity in Indonesia

January 2010.

Five years after Indonesia's government promised to end the money-making ventures of its armed forces, the promise remains unfulfilled. Dismantling the military's independent businesses has long been recognized as a crucial step to make the Indonesian armed forces fully accountable to civilian authorities. A landmark September 2004 law required the government to shut down or take over all military businesses within five years. Faced with the impending deadline, the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issued a decree and implementing regulations in October 2009. This report assesses the new measures. It finds that they at best offer a belated process for increased government oversight, but not ownership, of military businesses controlled through military cooperatives and foundations. They do not address many other military money-making activities, including payments from companies for protecting private assets; criminal enterprises, such as involvement in illegal logging; and various forms of corruption, including inflating the cost of military purchases. And they do not address accountability for human rights violations connected to military business.