The limited number of official residences for soldiers, especially those from the low-ranked soldiers, have not fulfilled their rights. The soldiers are also burdened in meeting the needs of daily life.
Second Corporal Niki Lauda Marines and his family live at the Navy official residence in Ciangsana Village, Gunung Putri, Bogor, West Java, Saturday (17/9/2022).
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — As the backbone of the TNI in maintaining national defense, enlisted soldiers and non-commissioned officers are required to be disciplined and are subject to assignments in the chain of command system. They are asked to do this despite the fact that welfare support is not yet ideal, especially official housing.
The work of TNI soldiers has never been doubted by the public. The Kompas Research and Development survey from year to year, at least from 2017 until the TNI reaches the age of 77 years on Wednesday (5/10/2022), has shown that the level of public satisfaction with the TNI's work is above 60 percent.
However, this has not been followed by the fulfillment soldiers’ welfare. The public perspective was also captured in the Kompas Research and Development poll on 9-12 Aug. As many as 21 percent of the public think that the government has not guaranteed the welfare of soldiers and 30.1 percent say that the government has strived for the welfare of soldiers but that the results have not been optimal.
Based on data from the Defense Ministry, the TNI is still short 237,735 units of official housing, or 51.7 percent of the need for 459,514 housing units. The right of soldiers to obtain official housing, as stipulated in Article 50 paragraph 2 of Law No 34/2004 on the TNI, has not been fulfilled.
The fact that this official residence is still not yet fulfilled burdens enlisted soldiers and non-commissioned officers, who generally earn Rp 3.5 million to Rp 6 million per month. In fact, as stipulated in Article 2 letter d of the TNI Law, soldiers are not allowed to do business.
The journey of Second Corporal Muhammad Husni (35) to get his turn to occupy an official soldier's residence is still not over. Six years on duty in Jakarta, this soldier in Battalion 461 of the Air Force's Rapid Movement Command (Kopasgat TNI AU) still has to rent a house with his wife and two children in the Pasar Rebo area, East Jakarta, at a cost of around Rp 1.5 million per month. Expenditures for the needs of the house takes up 30 percent of his salary of around Rp 4 million.
However, the tough task as a member of one of the elite Indonesian Air Force troops, previously known as the Special Forces Corps (Kopaskhas), is still being carried out by Husni. He still undertakes physical training and strategy training to face enemy threats.
KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN
Second Corporal Haris Aditya holds his daughter in the flat of Indonesian Army soldiers in Cililitan, East Jakarta, Tuesday (6/9/2022). There are five towers in this TNI AD soldier's flat complex.
Limitations
The rest of the salary must be used by Husni to meet the daily needs of his family and the school fees of his two children who are in grades I and VI of elementary school. The salary that can be set aside is limited to Rp 50,000, which is immediately deducted by the Indonesian Air Force from a his salary for soldiers’ savings.
The saved money can later be used to make a down payment on a house purchase.
“If someone gets an official house, it really helps because he doesn't have to pay rent. The money can be used for children's education,” said Husni when met in early September.
Chief sergeant Husin Abdullah, who has served in the Navy Information Service for five years in Cilangkap, East Jakarta, is also in a similar condition. He is still renting a house around his place of duty in the Cilangkap area. To rent the house, every month he has to pay Rp 750,000, which takes up a quarter of his salary.
The absence of relatives in Jakarta who can help take care of their toddler child caused Abdullah's wife to choose to live with her family in Pasuruan, East Java, this past year.
“In this case, it is rather difficult to save because there are 'two kitchens'. Revenues are matched with expenses," Abdullah said.
The salary that can be set aside is also limited to the Discipline Savings (Taplin) of Rp 100,000, which is directly deducted by the Navy. The savings can later be used to pay for a down payment on a house. However, for independent savings, Abdullah admitted, it was difficult.
After getting an official house, the salary can be saved for the children's school fees later.
Second Corporal Haris Aditya, 35, also experienced similar difficulties before getting his turn to occupy one of the official housing units at the Kodam Jaya Army Housing Complex Flats (Rusun KPAD) in Cililitan, Jakarta. The units available in the flats are part of the 174,953 official Army housing units that have been built. However, as the branch of the military with the greatest number of soldiers, the Army still lacks 177,368 official housing units.
The shortage of official housing units caused Haris not to immediately settle in the official residence even though he had served in the Kodam Jaya Detachment in Jakarta since 2013. While waiting to get an official residence, until 2018, Haris rented a house with his wife and two children in Pasar Rebo, East Jakarta. With a salary of Rp 3.2 million per month, at that time, he had to pay rent for a rented house of Rp 750,000 per month, plus electricity bills and other costs.
"After getting an official house, the salary can be saved for the children's school fees later," he said.
KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN
Army flats in Cililitan, East Jakarta, Tuesday (6/9/2022). There are five towers in this TNI AD soldier's flat complex.
Involved in corruption
Similar to Husni and Abdullah, Haris' salary was also deducted for mandatory military housing savings (TWP) by the Army at the rate of Rp 150,000 per month. The funds can also be used to make a down payment on a home.
However, this savings fund, in the 2019-2020 period, was caught up a corruption scandal allegedly carried out by Brig. Gen. Yus Adi Kamrullah. From the funds, Yus is suspected of enriching himself in the amount of Rp 60.9 billion, and his case is still being tried at the Jakarta High Military Court II.
From 2010 to 2020, the Public Works and Housing Ministry built military houses. However, according to the director general of housing at the ministry, Iwan Suprijanto, this activity for 2020-2024 is attached to the TNI budget, not the ministry.
This was also acknowledged by Army chief of staff Gen. Dudung Abdurachman. Dudung said that in the future, his party would prioritize the soldiers' official residences rather than office buildings and weapons systems.
"Alternatively, soldiers are placed according to their place of residence or family," he said. As for the alleged embezzlement of the soldiers' TWP funds, Dudung said it was one specific case. However, previously, he emphasized that his party was trying to audit and trace the flow of the embezzled funds.
Every year the non-commissioned and enlisted soldiers increase by 300 people, but the procurement of official housing for soldiers is limited to 60-100 units.
The high demand for official housing for soldiers was also expressed by the personnel assistant to the Air Force chief of staff, Vice Marshal Muda Elianto Susetio. Of the 21,755 housing units needed, the Air Force requires 2,091.
"Every year the non-commissioned and enlisted soldiers increase by 300 people, but the procurement of official housing for soldiers is limited to 60-100 units [throughout Indonesia]," he said.
The chief of staff of the Navy, Adm. Yudo Margono, also acknowledged that the unfulfilled needs for official residences had burdened military personnel. For this reason, the Indonesian Navy has allocated Rp 272.4 billion for the construction of military service houses in 2023. The official houses will be built at every Navy base. For this reason, the construction will be adjusted to the personnel data (DSP) of soldiers at each Navy base.
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