New Panglima TNI of Navy Origin: Intimidating or assuring for regional friends?

 

A new commander-in-chief of the Indonesia Armed Forces, locally dubbed “Panglima TNI” has been designated. Admiral Yudo Margono, is to replace the incumbent Army General Andika Perkasa, who will retire this year. Yudo in fact was the only name submitted for nomination by President Joko Widodo to the House of Representative (DPR). The nomination was actually quite surprising since the public has rumored earlier that the Army Chief of Staff General Dudung Abdurrachman was the next Panglima TNI.

 

Something similar happened last year, when Air Chief Marshall Hadi Tjahjanto, the then-Panglima TNI, was to be replaced, as he had already reached a mandatory retirement age of 58, as stipulated by the prevailing Law No. 34/2004 on TNI. In accordance with a tradition practiced after Reform, his replacement was supposed to be Yudo, but President Joko Widodo instead nominated Andika Perkasa as the sole candidate to the Parliament. His choice was a response to a political maneuver by many parties, including the latter’s father-in-law, retired Army General A. M. Hendropriyono, a Jokowi adviser and President Megawati Sukarnoputri’s confidante.

 

Yudo’s ascension to the position thus is highly hailed by many groups. He has served as the Panglima TNI Navy for more than a decade; the last admiral to hold this post was Agus Suhartono (2010-2013). For them, the appointment of Yudo somehow reflects the victory of maritime orientation over land-minded defense within TNI. They believe with his mandate a stronger and more and more maritime agenda, both defense and non-defense terms, will be executed during his term. Indonesia therefore may aspire to becoming a regional maritime power and a global maritime fulcrum can be achieved, they added. Is that so? Or is it just merely euphoria?

Let us start with the easiest explanation to answer the questions. Yudo Margono is currently 57 years of age, and this means that he will be in the office for only 1 plus year. Consequently there is surely no policy with significant impact can be introduced within such a limited timeframe except that of pro forma. For instance, after formally receive the helm from Andika Perkasa, he is expected to upgrade as soon as possible the rank of the commandant of the Indonesia Marines Corps from two-star to three-star general. This option actually has been on the table of Panglima TNI for many years but no commander-in-chief who is at the office so far is able to carry it.

 

It seems possible that the policy may totally destabilize the role of the Army as the key component in a national defense system as stipulated in the Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No. 8/2021 on General Policy of State Defense. Transferred to the operational level, the strategy means that the main units of the Army are bigger, higher in all aspects than the same units at the Navy and Air Force. Within this context, although the Marine Corps consists of three divisions like the Army’s Strategic Reserve Command or Kostrad, its commandant is only two-star while his brother-in-arms is headed by a three-star.

 

As an admiral now on top of the national military pyramid, Yudo theoretically has no barrier whatsoever to make the plan work. Another quick win: he may also elevate the status of the existing main naval bases, called Lantamal in our language, again by conferring their leader a two-star posture. There are 14 Lantamal across the archipelago administered by one-star Navy officers today. If the step is applicable, the Navy will be only one step behind the Army in terms of regional military command numbers. In the Army a major general is posted to each of the regional commands.

 

What are the lessons from the restructuring of the Navy that will be conducted by Admiral Yudo Margono during his tenure as Panglima TNI for the regional friends? Of course there is no need to worry since the planned maneuvers have only deal with in the internal side of TNI AL. For its personnel, however, it signifies a lot, specifically the colonels. There is no exact figure about their number but approximately they are more than 600 men and women from a total of 70,797. It is much below those working with Indonesia Army (TNI AD) which reaches 347,529. But, it is much bigger than that of Indonesia Air Force or TNI AU, at just 37,830. This composition is a reflection of Indonesia’s defense architecture, where the land force is more important than the sea or air.

 

With the upgrading of the Marines Corps and Lantamal, the colonels see a brighter career path in TNI AL, because the opportunity to be promoted as admiral is broadly opened. This optimism is required to maintain an esprit de corps among all members of the service branch. It is well noted among them that the chance becoming an admiral is very slim. If a colonel wants that rank, he/she must be able politically and financially active. It will not be automatically given unless their superiors are mostly financially satisfied. The rank of admiral is not only a career target for any naval officer. The position also offers a better welfare. Admirals are more affluent than the colonels.

 

The story is likely a little bit intimidating for the regional friends, if Yudo Margono can launch a strategic policy during his time as commander-in-chief of TNI. That is the military maritime defense system. No specific elaboration is available for the concept, since the idea is in limited circulation within the Indonesia Navy. It nevertheless is based on the premise that the branch should be treated as a core component in defense architecture, and to do so it must be upgraded into a green navy. Presently, TNI AL is plotted as a brown water force whose task is heavily weighted toward coastal defense.

 

If a maritime defense system can be adopted, the posture of TNI AL will change significantly. First of all, its perimeter is definitely to expand with possibility reaching beyond the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Secondly, warships and aircrafts, among others, will be consequently required and their number will be bigger than of the existing armament. At this point, it’s quite intimidating. Unfortunately, this will not be the case under Yudo.

Diterbitkan di Independent Observer, Jumat, 23 Desember 2022