Military with no money is ripe for corruption

Each day, behind the barbed-wire barricades sealing off Jalan Cendana in Jakarta where Indonesia's fallen president Suharto and his corrupt children are taking refuge, the disgraced former first family's staff emerge to give their protectors food and drink.

These machine-gun toting marines and soldiers, who have been guarding this quiet suburban street from the angry masses around the clock for the past eight months, have grown weary and bored from their marathon task, separated from their loved ones spread far and wide across this vast nation.

They take food from the Suhartos largely out of necessity. Their 8,500 rupiah (about HK$7.50) monthly basic salary as privates is scant enough to support their families in these days of shortages and rampant inflation.

Ever since Indonesia's declaration of independence in 1945, the military's meagre defence budget has been wildly insufficient to provide its forces with a decent basic wage.

'A soldier needs to get a salary capable of paying for him to go to the movies once a month, even once a year; to buy housing on credit and pay for the education of their children,' says retired former Army Chief of Staff, General Rudini.

'Right now what they are getting is not enough.' At less than two per cent of the national budget, Indonesia's military spending remains the lowest in the region, yet the demands on its armed forces are probably the greatest. Even senior generals still officially earn little more than 400,000 rupiah a month - a tenth the earnings of a Hong Kong domestic helper.

This has meant from day one, the Indonesian armed forces, or Abri as it is popularly known, has had to find alternative means of financial survival - as has its counterparts in China, Thailand and Vietnam - taking on vast business interests, forestry and oil concessions. This has, not surprisingly, bred corruption.