Soldiers no guarantee of peace in Poso: TNI chief
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, January 26, 2007

The deployment of the Indonesian Military (TNI) in Poso, Central Sulawesi, is not a guarantee that the conflict in the area will end, according to TNI commander Air Chief Marshall Djoko Suyanto.
"The problem cannot be solved only by the military and police. People from the local community also play a big role. Religious leaders, NGOs, the city administration and intellectuals have to be involved," Djoko said Thursday as quoted by Detikcom news portal.
Djoko said he rejected the idea that the police's Detachment 88 antiterror squad should be withdrawn from Poso because the TNI had no authority to supplant the police in a domestic security mission. He said the soldiers had been deployed solely to ensure there was enough manpower to secure the area.
"It was a request. They (the National Police) are the law enforcers. If there are no enforcers around, then who will see that the laws are obeyed there?" he asked reporters.
On Thursday, 200 army troops from Battalion 714 in Poso were sent to assist the police. Under the command of the Southeast Sulawesi police chief, the soldiers are tasked with helping police bring peace to the area.
"How long the troops will have to be there depends on the police chief. They (the soldiers) belong to the Poso Battalion anyway, so they won't go anywhere," Djoko said.
Earlier, Djoko told a media conference that the firearms used by the Poso civilians could have come from overseas, such as from Thailand or the Philippines.
However, critics said that the M-16s could have come from the TNI.
"Any firearms that our soldiers use are registered and there is a serial number for each unit. The firearms used by Poso people must be checked against our data before we can determine the origin of the weapons," Djoko added.
Djoko said the local community should help the armed forces curb the influx of illegal weapons from overseas. "The military just cannot be present in all areas of Indonesia," he said.
Meanwhile, legislator Permadi of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle said the conflict in Poso would not be easy to resolve because there were believed to be numerous firearms in the area.
"Indications are that there are 900 firearms used by people in Poso. Only 200 units have been confiscated; we don't know where the rest are. This proves that the police have been unprofessional," Permadi said as quoted by Detikcom news portal.
The research coordinator at the rights group Imparsial, Al Araf, said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono must act carefully to end the conflict in the area.
"The president needs to establish a special and independent team in order to investigate the cause and resolve the conflict," he told The Jakarta Post.
"He should also order the National Police chief to closely monitor both the people and the police in the area," he added.
Al Araf said the deployment of the TNI troops had made it hard for people to see whether the police were capable of solving the conflict by themselves.