Should the military be placed under the Defense Ministry to ensure greater civilian control?
SBY: This is a time of political transition. At the right time the military has to be placed beneath the Defense Ministry to ensure that politicians are the policymakers and that the Defense Minister determines the military policy and budget. But we have to make sure that a civilian Defense Minister knows how to separate military and political matters. As long as the military is not under the Defense Ministry, I will make sure that communication and coordination is solid between the defense minister and the military and that it is the defense minister formulating strategy and budget policy for the military. In the meantime the armed forces must follow policy set out by the President through the defense minister. What we don’t want is for the military to be used for any political interests. This will be counter-productive to the growth of democracy in Indonesia. TIME: Will you consider restarting negotiations with the Free Aceh Movement given that the separatist struggle there continues
