2) Internet services in Merauke to be disrupted due to sea cable damage
3) Quo vadis TNI reform?
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1) Victor Yeimo, a victim of racism accused of treason
News Desk - Treason Accusation
22 February 2023
Jayapura, Jubi – Field coordinator in a protest defending Victor Yeimo Mully Kogoya said his party defended Victor Yeimo because he was a victim of racism accused of treason. Victor Yeimo, he said, only defended Papuan students at the Kamasan Dormitory in Surabaya on August 16, 2019, who were demeaned by being called monkeys. Instead, Yeimo was arrested by the Indonesian security forces and charged with treason.
Victor Yeimo, who is the spokesperson for the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), was charged with treason for allegedly leading protests that took place in Jayapura City on August 19 and 29, 2019. The case was registered at the Jayapura District Court with case number 376/Pid.Sus/2021/PN Jap on August 12, 2021.
Mully Kogoya, when met by Jubi at the rally site in front of the Abepura Shop in Jayapura City on Tuesday, February 21, 2023, said Victor Yeimo was purely a victim of racism. On August 29, 2019, Victor Yeimo was not involved and did not plan the protest.
“On August 19, 2019, Victor Yeimo took to the streets as a participant, protesting racial slurs delivered to Papuans,” he said.
Kogoya said the treason accusation was not true, and it was an attempt to criminalize the leadership of the Papuan people. “So we ask that Victor Yeimo be released from the legal process he is undergoing,” he said. (*)
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2) Internet services in Merauke to be disrupted due to sea cable damage
News Desk - Internet Disruption
22 February 2023
Merauke, Jubi – Internet services in Merauke Regency, South Papua Province, will be disrupted in the next week due to a shunt fault or injury to the sea cable communication system (SKKL) for the Sorong-Merauke section.
Executive Vice President of Telkom Regional 7 Agus Yudha Basuki in a press release received by Jubi on Tuesday, February 21, 2023, said his party identified a shunt fault at 107 km from Merauke. The injured optical cable is at a depth of 33 meters under the sea.
This problem has the potential to cause the network to be disconnected if optimization is not immediately carried out. Therefore, Telkom will optimize maintenance of the SKKL Sorong-Merauke section. The maintenance is also intended to improve IndiHome services so that the community can enjoy it even better.
“During the SKKL network optimization process, there will be a temporary impact, namely the decline in customer service quality at the Merauke, Timika and Kaimana,” said Basuki.
Agus Yudha Basuki explained that affected customers will receive notifications regarding the decline in internet quality. However, currently Telkom services in Papua and its surroundings are still running normally.
“The estimated repair time is one week from February 24 to March 2, 2023, a delay from the initial plan on February 20, 2023 due to weather constraints,” Basuki said.
It is said that one of the factors determining the speed of maintenance is the weather. Due to bad weather, the SKKL cable maintenance process will begin on February 24.
Telkom, added Basuki, had prepared backup links via radio and fiber optic palapa east ring and satellite so that customers could use Telkom services with limited bandwidth during optimization activities.
“On behalf of the management, we apologize to our customers for the inconvenience. Let us hope the weather is favorable in the coming days,” he concluded. (*)
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3) Quo vadis TNI reform?
Editorial board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta
Thu, February 23, 2023
Out of the blue, the government recently announced a plan to form new regional military commands (Kodam) in each of the country’s 37 provinces, citing the need to strengthen the national defense system, which should involve both military and civilian elements, including the police and local governments.
The initiative came from Army chief of staff Gen. Dudung Abrurachman, and it unsurprisingly won approval from Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Adm. Yudo Margono and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto. Both Dudung and Yudo will retire at the end of this year, while Prabowo will automatically leave office when the current administration’s term ends in October next year.
The formation of the new Kodam will leave a monumental legacy, but perhaps a heavy burden for their successors. Not only is the proposal untimely amid Indonesia’s efforts to recover from the devastating pandemic and ahead of a potential global recession. More importantly, the plan goes against the military reform agenda this nation embarked on 25 years ago. Among the major items of that agenda was a gradual phasing-out the TNI’s territorial functions.
Supervised by the Army chief, the military territorial function covers the regional level, stretching from the Kodam to the village level, which is handled by non-commissioned officers assigned to villages and subdistricts.
During the New Order the military territorial command worked to support the sustainability of the regime through operations to maintain security and order, in which criticism of the government, let alone dissent, was deemed intolerable.
The fall of the New Order in May 1998 was followed by sweeping reforms that included separation of the military and police roles. The military would focus on national defense and threats from external forces, while the police would deal with domestic security. For that purpose, the military would return to barracks and uphold civilian supremacy, as in the case of democracies across the world.
The military reform appeared to be on track when in 2004 the military finally surrendered its seats in the House of Representatives, marking its exit from practical politics. The 2004 TNI Law affirms the military reforms, banning active personnel from holding civilian posts except in institutions where a military presence is unavoidable such as the Defense Ministry, National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla) and National Cyber and Encryption Agency (BSSN).
But we have seen the commitment to completing the military reforms agenda wither. Perhaps this has something to do with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s predilection for former military generals as his key aides. Those ex-generals contributed much to his catapulting into the presidency in 2014 and being reelected in 2019.
Investigations into past human rights violations that involved the military have moved at a snail’s pace, despite his campaign promise to uphold justice for the victims of atrocities. The President’s instruction for a non-judicial settlement of 12 crimes against humanity just as he completes his second term looks like the best deal he can offer, as he may be reluctant to anger the military.
How Jokowi will respond to the initiative to create a Kodam in each of the country’s 37 provinces will further test this long-standing mutualism. Given his good ties with Prabowo, Yudo and Dudung, however, Jokowi is likely to support the plan, regardless of the criticism that mounted as soon as Prabowo made it public on Feb. 11. Indeed, the TNI is facing promotional logjams, which has resulted in hundreds of “non-job” middle-ranking officers and has attempted organizational restructuring to cope with the problem.
The formation of new Kodam will certainly help solve the issue, but the cost of the policy will exceed its benefits. The new Kodam will extend the chains of command, while rapid deployment of troops matters in time of war or national threats. The formation of three Joint Regional Defense Commands, which combine the three services, was actually a breakthrough, but the new Kodam may render them ineffective.
The most worrying scenario, however, is the potential of politicization of the new Kodam ahead of the 2024 elections.
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