GEOGRAPHY
Size: Total land area 1,919,317 square kilometers, which includes
some 93,000 square kilometers of inland seas. Total area claimed, including
an exclusive economic zone, 7.9 million square kilometers.
Topography: Archipelagic nation with 13,667 islands, five main
islands (Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Irian Jaya), two major
archipelagos (Nusa Tenggara and Maluku Islands), and sixty smaller archipelagos.
Islands mountainous, with some peaks reaching 3,800 meters above sea level
in western islands and as high as 5,000 meters in Irian Jaya. Highest point
Puncak Jaya (5,039 meters), in Irian Jaya. Region tectonically unstable
with some 400 volcanoes, of which 100 are active.
Climate: Tropical, hot, humid; more moderate climate in highlands.
Little variation in temperature because of almost uniformly warm waters
that are part of the archipelago. In much of western Indonesia dry season
June to September, rainy season December to March.
TRANSPORTATION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Roads: Total 250,000 kilometers national, provincial, and district
roads (1989); 43 percent paved; about 32 percent classed as highways. Urban
transit dominated by motor vehicles; increasing use of buses, minibuses,
and motorcycles.
Maritime: Interisland transportation critical; traditional sailing
craft still widely used but increasing motorization. Port improvements
underway in 1980s and early 1990s; 300 registered ports for international
and interisland trade. Domestic merchant fleet composed of 35 oceangoing
vessels, 259 interisland vessels, more than 1,000 modernized local vessels,
almost 4,000 traditional vessels, 1,900 special bulk carriers. Nearly 21,600
kilometers of inland waterways.
Airports: Government-owned airline, Garuda Indonesian Airways,
with one smaller subsidiary; one private airline. SukarnoHatta International
Airport opened outside Jakarta in 1985. Major airports in Denpasar, Medan,
Surabaya, and Batam Island; 470 airports total in early 1990s, 111 with
permanent-surface runways.
Railroads: Track length 6,964 kilometers in early 1990s, all
government-owned and -operated by Indonesian State Railways (PJKA; for
this and other acronyms--see table A). Some 211 kilometers of roadbed double
tracked and 125 kilometers electrified, all in Java. Most used for passenger
transportation but increasing use for freight since early 1980s. Modernization
program underway with World Bank assistance since late 1980s.
Telecommunications: First Indonesian Palapa satellite launched
1976, replaced in 1987; 130 earth stations; direct dialing among 147 cities,
international direct dialing to 147 countries; 226 automatic and 480 manual
telephone exchanges; about 800,000 telephones (1990). Television and radio
dominated by government networks, but private stations on the rise in early
1990s. Some 11 million television sets and 22 million radios in early 1990s.
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Government: Unitary republic based on separation of powers into
executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Constitution of 1945 in
force, and power concentrated in presidency; mandate renewed by People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR), which meets every five years to elect president
and vice president. Unicameral elected House of People's Representatives
(DPR) shares legislative authority with MPR, which comprises members of
DPR plus others appointed by central government. Supreme Court highest
court of land.
Politics: Emphasis on consensus, unity, and controlled political
development. Political ideologies other than Pancasila illegal. Since 1973
all political groups identified with three legal political organizations:
Golkar (see Glossary), government surrogate party; and two opposition parties,
Muslim-oriented United Development Party (PPP) and secularist Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI). DPR elections every five years preceding MPR session.
Golkar has held absolute majority since early 1970s.
Administrative Divisions: Twenty-four provinces (propinsi), two
special regions (daerah istimewa), and one special capital city region
(daerah khusus ibukota). These divisions subdivided into districts (kabupaten)
and municipalities (kotamadya). Lower levels comprise subdistricts (kecamatan)
and villages (desa).
Foreign Relations: Member of United Nations (UN), Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Nonaligned Movement, and numerous other
international organizations. Relations with all major nations based on
principles of nonalignment.
The Army
The Armed Forces of Indonesia official name is the Tentara Nasional
Indonesia. Each service of the Armed Forces is referred to as Angkatan
Darat "TNI-AD" (Army), Angkatan Udara "TNI-AU" (Navy) and the Angkatan
Laut "TNI-AL" Airforce.
The Army of the Republic of Indonesia TNI-AD or
Tentara Nasional Indonesia - Angkatan Darat historically has been the
dominant service, with administrative control of the armed forces resting
with the army chief of staff, in 1992 a four-star general. His staff included
a vice chief of staff, an inspector general, and assistant chiefs of staff
for logistics, operations, personnel, planning and budget, security, and
territorial affairs. Total army strength, which had not changed substantially
during the New Order era, as of 1992 was some 217,000, not including several
thousand in nonmilitary positions throughout the government.
The chief of staff was responsible for personnel, training, administration,
and logistical support of the army, but he did not exercise direct authority
over the ten KODAM (Komando Daerah Militer) - Military Area Command.
MAC, the regional commands of the army that reported directly to the
commander in chief. Commanders and staff of each KODAM were responsible
for administration, logistics, personnel, training, and the general welfare
of assigned and attached combat units. Each Kodam was divided into successively
smaller administrative units. These included the KODIM (Komando Distrik
Militer) - Military District Command. MDC; KOREM (Komando Resort Militer)
- Military Provincial Command. MPC; KORAMIL (Komando Rayon Militer) - Subdistrict
commands - not sure of
meaning. At the bottom of the structure, noncommissioned officers
(NCOs) were assigned to every village in the country.
Approximately two-thirds of the army was engaged in the national defense
aspect of the armed forces' dwifungsi mission. Operations were rarely,
if ever, conducted in any formation larger than a battalion. Each Korem
had control of at least one battalion and one or more battalions came under
the direct control of the Kodam. Army doctrine differentiated between tactical
battalions, which were found in Kostrad and at least one quick reaction
force battalion for each Kodam; and territorial battalions, which made
up the majority of the units assigned to the ten Kodams. Each battalion
had a strength of nearly 700 men, and personnel programs within a fixed
staffing size called for recruitment of sufficient numbers to bring chronically
understrength units up to authorized levels. Some of these forces were
occasionally assigned for temporary missions to Kostrad or Kopassus.
The army had its own small air arm that performed liaison and limited
transport duties. It flew one helicopter squadron and one composite squadron
composed mostly of light aircraft and small transports, such as the domestically
produced CASA 235.
Factionalism within the army leadership, once a severe problem, no longer
disrupted operations in the early 1990s. Traditional divisional identification
continued to have some significance, however, especially in regard to that
developed in the former Siliwangi, Diponegoro, and Brawijaya divisions,
which covered western, central, and eastern Java, respectively, during
the war of independence and the years immediately thereafter. The detachment
of the Jakarta area from the control of the Siliwangi division and the
restructuring of the army from a divisional basis to the territorial Kodam
system diffused the powers of the divisions and eliminated warlordism.
Most of the army personnel not assigned to combat formations were involved
in carrying out the social and developmental portions of the armed forces'
dwifungsi mission. Many were attached to the Kodams as support elements,
performing intelligence and internal security functions, and maintaining
liaison with local officials charged with implementing the government's
policies. Some military personnel filled civilian government positions
from national and province levels down to the district, subdistrict, or
village level. A large portion of the army's territorial forces participated
in TNI-AD civic action projects, such as the nationally directed TNI-AD
Masuk Desa program and locally directed programs at the Kodam level, as
part of their mission to promote national development. They constructed
roads, bridges, and public buildings, provided medical service in remote
areas, and worked to improve rural conditions. The military's civic action
mission received added attention after 1983 as part of a program designed
to address the problems of a perceived growing gap between TNI-AD and the
civilian population.
By 1992 virtually all of the army's heavy Soviet- or East European-origin
equipment had been eliminated and replaced by equipment produced indigenously
or purchased from Western countries. Because of funding constraints, emphasis
was placed on maintenance and rehabilitation of older equipment. The mainstay
of the armored force was the French-built AMX-13 light tank and AMX-VCI
reconditioned armored personnel carriers, mostly acquired in the late 1970s
. The nation's small arms industry supplied nearly all of the army's small
arms requirements, although a substantial number of M-16 rifles purchased
from the United States in the 1980s remained in the inventory. Domestically
produced arms included FMC rifles, submachine guns, and machine guns made
under Belgian-licensed production. Ammunition was in short supply .
Although army recruits received their basic training in a central training
facility located in each Kodam area, specialist corps training was provided
at the appropriate national corps centers. NCOs were required to attend
training courses and to pass examinations in their fields prior to promotion.
DEFENSE INDUSTRY AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Indonesia is unique among developing countries in the relatively low
priority given to defense spending. Having fully supported the basic concept
of the Suharto regime, namely, that national defense and security depended
on the country's economic development, the armed forces endorsed the principle
that scarce domestic resources and foreign aid could not be diverted for
military use without slowing the progress of national development. The
armed forces accepted their low priority for development funds from the
national budget. Although currency reforms undertaken in the late 1960s
and general accounting practices under both Sukarno and Suharto make absolute
comparisons impossible, it is evident that military expenditure dropped
dramatically during the first two years of the New Order government (1966-67)--perhaps
by as much as 75 percent--and that defense spending was held to fairly
low levels thereafter. This resulted in a rapid decline in inventories
of functioning equipment in all services and an overall decrease in armed
forces manpower and combat readiness that continued into the 1990s.
By the late 1970s, military hardware, particularly Sovietbloc systems
left over from the Sukarno era, was approaching decrepitude. National and
military authorities became convinced that the armed services must be upgraded,
although on a gradual basis. During the period between 1977 and 1982, national
allocations to Hankam doubled in absolute terms, and modest upgrades were
made in all three military services. In the same period, however, the total
budget rose at a higher rate, so the military share actually declined each
year--from 14 percent of the total in fiscal year 1977 to 12 percent in
FY 1982, and down to 4 percent in FY 1991. This period saw such equipment
purchases as the F-5 (1978), the A-4 (1981), and the F16 aircraft (1988),
several used frigates and destroyers, as well as tanks, armored personnel
carriers, and towed howitzers.
The armed forces budget was divided into two categories of expenditure:
one for routine matters, such as pay and allowances, maintenance, and travel,
and the other for development of forces and infrastructure, including the
purchase of new equipment. Although a more detailed breakdown of the budget
was not made public, it can be said that in the early 1990s, routine expenditures
accounted for some 70 percent of the total. The balance covered installment
payments for several naval vessels and for scheduled payments for the F-5,
A-4, and F-16 fighter aircraft.
Historically, the publicly released figures in the budget have not reflected
actual military expenditures, since extrabudgetary funds contributed significantly
to military expenditures . However, the degree to which actual spending
was understated was a matter for conjecture. For example, extrabudgetary
funds were used to purchase a squadron of A-4 combat aircraft and four
landing ship-tanks (LSTs) in the late 1970s. Moreover, most observers agreed
that the portion of the budget devoted to routine matters was insufficient
to maintain the armed services at their current subsistence level. The
shortfall of funds between actual expenditures and the official budget
plus foreign military credits was believed to be made up by the earnings
of the military business enterprises and diversion of funds from other
state enterprises.
Parliamentary mandate in 1978 encouraged the development of a domestic
defense industry to lessen Indonesia's dependence on foreign manufacturers
and to reduce the use of scarce foreign currency reserves on weaponry.
In keeping with these guidelines, domestic capacity to maintain, repair,
and produce military equipment was improved. Large naval vessels and fighter
aircraft still had to be purchased abroad, but the Indonesian aircraft
and shipbuilding industries, detached from the armed forces in the early
1980s, had been upgraded by the early 1990s. They produced helicopters,
light aircraft, transport aircraft, landing craft, patrol boats, small
arms, and a variety of spare parts for these systems, taking advantage
of offset production and other licensing agreements with foreign firms.
Defense industries attended to a greater amount of routine as well as local-level
maintenance, such as installing new engines in helicopters and combat vehicles
that had been retired from service because of a shortage of spare parts.
Several electronics firms were established to support defense matériel
production. The government continued to seek defense-related technology
transfer from the United States, Japan, and several European nations. For
example, certification of the P.T. PAL shipyard, starting in 1992, to perform
certain types of en route repairs for United States Navy warships on a
commercial basis brought a new level of sophistication to that facility.
Despite these efforts, Indonesia was far from self-sufficient in the
production of weapons and defense-related matériel. Domestic facilities
remained inadequate for the repair of certain complex weapons systems,
and equipment inventories often represented considerable overstatements
of what was in functioning order. Moreover, although defense guidelines
favored the standardization of weaponry and defense matériel, the armed
forces still possessed and continued to procure equipment from a number
of other countries, presenting serious problems in obtaining and stocking
spare parts and training technical maintenance personnel. Progress on regional
cooperation in defense maintenance began to show results in the mid-1980s,
with cooperative agreements for aircraft and maritime repairs and maintenance
established with both Singapore and Malaysia.
Civilian utilization of defense industry plants has benefited the national
economic base. The major defense industries were transferred from the armed
forces in the 1980s and in 1992 were managed by the minister of state for
research and technology. Under a new policy these plants also produced
matériel for the commercial and civilian sectors. The aircraft industry
produced parts and equipment for commercial aviation, for example, and
the army's former munitions plants manufactured commercial explosives for
the mining and petroleum industries. The P.T. PAL shipyard also manufactured
commercial ships and maritime equipment.
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