Jokowi moves to rein in general
> President’s aides worry about ‘out of control’ military chief
JAKARTA: Indonesia’s President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo reproached his military chief in a meeting last week amid concerns the commander was “out of control” after he unilaterally suspended defence cooperation with Australia, two sources briefed on the meeting said.
Jokowi’s intervention highlights alarm about General Gatot Nurmantyo ( pix), who promotes the notion that Indonesia is besieged by “proxy wars”, in which foreign states seek to undermine the nation by manipulating non-state actors.
Analysts and some of Jokowi’s aides are also concerned that Gatot is laying the groundwork for an expansion of the military’s role in civilian affairs in the world’s third-largest democracy and may have political ambitions himself.
Jokowi, the first president from outside the military and political establishment, needed to move quickly to demonstrate his authority as the country’s commander-in-chief, one senior government official said.
“With Gatot, the feeling is like he’s a little out of control,” he said.
Gatot declared a rupture in military ties after an Indonesian officer found “offensive” teaching material while on a language training course in Australia late last year.
The material suggested that Indonesia’s Papua province should be independent and mocked the nation’s state ideology, Pancasila, according to Gatot.
One of the officials told Reuters Jokowi and others in the government were caught off guard when local media reported Gatot’s announcement of the suspension in military ties with Australia.
While the general was not formally reprimanded, the official said, Widodo served him a warning during a meeting at a presidential palace in Bogor, outside Jakarta.
The meeting was confirmed by another senior government aide, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.
Gatot declined requests to be interviewed and a military spokesman declined to comment on the meeting.
The senior government official said: “We suspect that Gatot is exploiting this incident for his own political agenda, his own political ambition.”
“He has been making many public appearances and speeches lately,” he said.
“Frankly, we think many of them about proxy wars and the threat to Indonesia are absolutely ridiculous.”
In one speech, Gatot predicted that a food shortage in China could trigger a flood of boat-borne refugees.
He told listeners he would slaughter 10 cows and dump them into the sea to attract sharks that would devour the Chinese.
One of the officials who disclosed Jokowi’s meeting with Gatot said the military chief’s job was safe, downplaying speculation that the general would be relieved of his duties. – Reuters