Widodo, his paranoid general and a ‘rotting situation’ in Indonesia
Like his conspiracy theories, the presidential aspirations of Gatot Nurmantyo, commander of the Indonesian armed forces, might seem laughable. Less so his alleged links to hardline Muslim groups at the centre of protests that have shaken Jakarta
The Indonesian Armed Forces commander General Gatot Nurmantyo is a blowback to another era, a variation on the Cold War warrior who, instead of Reds, sees Americans and Australians under every bed.
He believes US Marines training in northern Australia are there for the eventual takeover of Papua, he suspects some of his own overseas-trained officers may be agents of influence and he thinks foreigners in general are engaged in a proxy war to undermine Indonesia.
The debacle over his recent decision to suspend military cooperation with Australia without, apparently, having consulted his commander-in-chief, also shows he does not necessarily feel beholden to President Joko Widodo. Weeks after Nurmantyo’s decision, which had been prompted in part by a complaint over ‘offensive’ teaching materials used to train Indonesian soldiers in Australia, Political Coordinating Minister Wiranto intervened to say the suspension would apply only to language programmes.
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Anywhere else Nurmantyo would have been fired, but Indonesia is not “anywhere else” – even 18 years into democratic rule – and such drastic action has to be weighed carefully against the inevitable political fallout.
Widodo is clearly rattled after two mass demonstrations against the ethnic-Chinese governor of Jakarta, Basuki Purnama, whose blasphemy trial, the president suspects, has become a tool to weaken him ahead of the 2019 presidential elections.
Widodo is the first Indonesian president to come from the rural hinterland and many in the civil and military elite, who have dominated the political landscape for the past five decades, do not necessarily support a populist outsider’s bid for a second term.