Military Conscription
Nov 6th, 2007, in News, by PatungWhether Indonesia should introduce military conscription.
The proposed revision to the Reserve Forces Act (RUU Komponen Cadangan), put forward by the Department of Defence and which will go before the parliament in early 2008, contains clauses that will make Army training or service compulsory (wajib militer, wamil) for all citizens aged 18-45.
Ifdhal Kasim of the Human Rights Commission, Komnas HAM, says the idea is inappropriate, because: antara
- Indonesia is a country of islands so it is better to build up the Navy
- wars today (like in Iraq) are so often fought in the air rather than on land
- the Army most of all needs internal reforming and upgrading of its weapons stocks, rather than more men.
Observer Hermawan Sulistio says he doubts the country has the ability to afford the massive cost of compulsory military service. In general however the military draft was a good idea, but should be restricted to those aged 18-25, he said. antara
Professor in Law at a Medan university, Syafruddin Kalo, says wamil is needed:
The purpose of compulsory military service is to guard the integrity of Indonesia against the various foreign threats to our beloved country.
Young Indonesians have no good reason to refuse service for their country: antara
Every citizen must have a high level of patriotism, like those who struggled against Dutch colonialism.
22 Comments on “Military Conscription”
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Stefan says:
Which “various foreign threats”?
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Josef says:
They are going to have to order a lot more steroids.
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iamisaid says:
Indonesia has more unresolved issues in their own backyard than foreign threats.
Indonesia has a much greater need to generate men of honour and integrity. -
Pakmantri says:
Hooray ….., free training for “komando jihad and mudjahedeen” and future radicals!! 😀
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The purpose of compulsory military service is to guard the integrity of Indonesia against the various foreign threats to our beloved country.
Oh, and who is going to protect us, the not-haves Indonesian, from the corrupt military(army) that run the country today?
Merdeka!
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Arema says:
Heh… Indonesia is not a less-than-ten-million-people-country like Singapore or Vatican… Even without Wamil, we still have enough troops and volunteers in the army / navy / air force. So Wamil is a form of unnecessary spending, and most probably another fertile ground for corruption, if implemented in the near future.
But that’s not the only consequence:
1) We all know Indonesia had experienced severe brain drain over the last few decades, and with this, more and more bright students (those with money, of course) will run away to foreign country (before they reach 18yo) and never come back. This is what happening to Singapore, although in a much lesser extent because most of them still want to live in Singapore. But with the loyalty of Indonesians grow thinner each day, I’m fearing a massive exodus.
2) These three elements: immature Indonesians, combat training, and poor control / monitoring should not be combined. With their “newly learned skill”, I can see that crime rate will increase (especially armed robbery), terrorism will flourish, and we will start exporting our own version of Azahari and Nurdin Mohammad Top to Malaysia and other countries. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating, but it is definitely possible.
But having said that, Wamil does have positive impacts, like character development and improvement in health (one example is reducing obesity), but the negatives far outweigh the positives, in my humble opinion, so like most of you here, I’m also against it.
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Rambutan says:
Foreign threats? Wamil?? Rubbish!!! The number of police should be increased combined with professional training and an adequate salary.
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Janma says:
* Indonesia is a country of islands so it is better to build up the Navy
* wars today (like in Iraq) are so often fought in the air rather than on land
* the Army most of all needs internal reforming and upgrading of its weapons stocks, rather than more men.What he said….
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putu alberto lee says:
no.
it will only produce more gays in the country.
we’ve had enough of these gay propagandas: queer eyes for straight guy, arisan, dumbledore, gandalf, six feet under, cachorro, brokeback mountain, etc. don’t add another gay thing like military conscription to our already badly gay-ized life.
just imagine. guys in the training camp, together, for weeks / months?
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Aganz says:
A professional and all volunteer armed forces is better than a conscript army… With that in mind, it makes more sense to increase the professionalism and quality of our armed forces than to increase the numbers..
It’s no secret that the TNI when compared to the other armed forces in the region, lacks the more modern equipment and firepower now available to them. So any extra funding available should go to the procurement of newer & better equipment, training + education, and overall improving the welfare of our soldiers…
Conscripts with their limited training (and usually using older weapons) will probably have little or no effect in increasing the overall performance of the TNI… Meanwhile the TNI, even with all its current limitations, is still attractive to a lot of young Indonesian men and women, and as such, the TNI never had any problems in recruiting or maintaining personnel.
I see little point in conscripting unwilling (or half-willing) people to join the service when there’s still plenty of eager and motivated youths to select from. On the other hand, If and when the integrity of this Republic is TRULY in danger (be it from foreign invasion or internal issues) I have no doubt that, even without conscription, the Indonesian people will fight alongside the TNI to defend it.
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Dragonwall says:
One way of getting money.. For sure. why not sho that everyone dorning an army uniform could go around pungli.
Can’t even resolve the economic problem and now they are planning to plunge in more money into a bottomless hole..
I wonder these people are they trained to protect or ….?
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WP says:
It may just be an idea from some generals who are genuinely concerned about national security; but it is a dangerous clause and should be erased. It is already bad enough that we tolerate militias, which is really a pre-WW2 thing. Now we’re going to give everyone uniform!
It’s better to make English compulsory to everyone (including members of the House).
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Chizuru says:
okay. first things first.
A HUGE NO.
this whole military thing is SO wrong! I mean, look at it in the.. umm..teenagers point of view. It’s like totally condemning teenage girls to go through their 18 year old life and ahead without boys. Besides, if teh boys are to do compulsory military services, where would tehir days of college go? Would this decrease the brain actiovities of those boys? Besides(again), what if the boys go home from teh military thingy and suddenly develops this post-military-camp and starts killing everyone within sight? Okay, that might not happen, but these trainings may change the lives of more than just the boys themselves, what about their families? their moms, their dads, their sisters?
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Ryan_H says:
wtf is that? people have mandatory military service all the time. In singapore and korea you HAVE to do it, then go to college. in the united states you can choose to do it for a college scholarship. girls wouldn’t be deprived of ‘boys’ and boys wouldn’t be running around like retarded monkeys.
anywho, i still don’t think its a great idea, despite the fact that i wouldn’t mind military training. i actually think it’s a good thing for you. but to impose that on everyone else is unnecessary. our army is quite useless and unfunded. everything they say against this is true but i don’t think most wars are fought in the air. if Indonesia pursued a competent airforce, we would still be decades behind. and even that isn’t possible since we’re too damn poor.
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ellemon says:
gosh…all i can think of is that this wamil is just a stupid act of copy cat.
trying to be like singapore and stuff (Like it’ll actually happen..duuh..)
seriously even if we would be dijajah again, wouldn’t it happen economically (oops iT IS already happening) not like in the time when the portugese/dutch/japanese reign over us…
True the US attacked iraq, but seriously….fat chance it would be happening in indonesia….
Man, Allocate the money for education rather than err…guns and sum military gizmos,,,
sumtimes the gov’s ruu-s beat the crap out of me…(sighs..) -
wongcilik says:
brain drain or not, who really care ? so long there are project with potential $$, it is good for army training. Example : those young reservist will be trained to guard ‘rich people’ by posting them in every 5 star hotels’ entrance gates. Bombings happened in Bali & Marriott in year 2002/3 but security business are good money to be continued until today.
The money went to our politician & army, security business is a lucrative business indeed but to secure the rich & high status people only. The poors can stay in refugee camps like in the Sidoarjo’ wet market with minimal sanitary & no security guard at all because no business there -
A HUGE NO.
Why Not! Lets close the rich poor gap. Pakai changkul dan dengkul.
The money went to our politician & army, security business is a lucrative business indeed but to secure the rich & high status people only.
You should see the Singapore Cisco Guard. Big busyness.
One more thing, minggir Satpam and Banpol.
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One more thing, minggir Satpam and Banpol.
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IndonesiaLove says:
you guys better imrpove education in Indonesia.. kkk.. that’s what i seriously concern of. teach them to act properly and politely. Indonesia’s culture actually is neat and calm.. but look at now..
Better waste gov income to educate the younger generation, other than this useless millitary consription. Corruption also has to be eliminated, and once again we blamed the goverment, but anyway.. It’s true.. since our independence, indonesia is nothing more than corruption and racism inside.
I like indonesia and I hope they can open their mind more.. for some of you. no offense, i just tell what i want to say.
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Mr Navy says:
Indonesian is famous for its lies and nonsense talking,
this rumour has been spreaded up since early 2002 but it has never come true,
I suggest Indonesian Young Man should be more extra study or going to pursue their dreams as high as the blue-blue sky.
Indonesian is so nonsense even our goverment is corrupting. -
Yaser Antone says:
Military training should be included in High school curriculum, so student would at least have to spent three and half years in senior high school.
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What “various foreign threats”?