Sukarno's Army

Russian-supplied MIG jet fighters zoomed low over Djkarta last week as Indonesia's military might assembled for Armed Forces Day. In the harbor below steamed Indonesia's newest warship, the Russian-built cruiser Irian. Through the streets drove marines in Soviet amphibious troop carriers and a battery of Russian-made ground-to-air missiles. An ironic counterpoint was provided by a youth brigade carrying bamboo spears.

Although he now has West Irian safely in his grasp, Indonesia's President Sukarno has called for the continued massive build-up of Indonesia's army. His purpose: to be ready for any other chance to grab territory that might present itself, and to placate the army, the strongest and most restive element of his power.

Nimble-Footed. Sukarno smoothly plays the 250,000-man army off against the other major prop of his regime, Indonesia's 2,000,000-member Communist Party, third largest in the world after those of Russia and Red China. The army has seven ministries in his Cabinet to the Communists' two, enjoys the accrued privileges and profits of almost unlimited power. Leader of Indonesia's armed forces is Defense Minister General Abdul Haris Nasution, 43, whose popularity among the military enables him to hold the highly independent army in check--and to change sides nimbly. Nasution was sacked as chief of staff in 1952 for backing an attempted military coup, was restored to office three years later at the behest of the liberal Cabinet, which wanted a strong leader to control the volatile army. Nasution repaid his backers by clapping them into jail at the first opportunity. In 1958, during another revolt, he firmly sided with Sukarno and got emergency powers, which he used to ban freedom of speech and the press, the right of assembly, and all opposition political activity.

A devout Moslem, Nasution is antiCommunist, but has been prevented from really cracking down on Indonesia's Reds by Sukarno, who repeatedly warns against "Communist phobia." Only when the Communists use violence does Sukarno permit the army to intervene. Moreover, many of Indonesia's most ardent anti-Reds are in jail under Nasution's orders because they advocated more freedom than he thought was necessary.

Colonels' Corruption. Still, Nasution knows that after Sukarno's death there will be a major struggle between the Communists and the army. To counter the Reds' strength among the masses, Nasution has tried to make the army a political and social as well as a military force.

Officers and noncoms take eight-to 15-week courses in such subjects as village administration, agriculture, public health, guerrilla warfare and "Information Science"--a stiff dose of anti-Communist propaganda. In West Java villages, lieutenants teach peasants to read with king-sized letter cards, and sergeants demonstrate to housewives how to purify water. Knee-deep in the village streams, soldiers plant fish traps made from bamboo and rushes; in the paddyfields, noncoms and men with hoes help farmers clear irrigation ditches of weeds and snags. "The villages are where we won the revolution against the Dutch," says an army colonel. "And this is where we've got to win it against the Communists."

Nasution still has a long way to go toward that goal. Much of his army is overage and undereducated. Moreover, the people tend to accept the widespread taunt that "corruption" and "colonel" are synonymous. The officers have houses, cars, pensions, and a high standard of living to maintain. At the recent Asian games, one army colonel was arrested for embezzling $45,000 in ticket sales. Another colonel reportedly helicoptered over a posh Djkarta suburb, picked out a house he liked, alighted near by and ordered the tenants to clear out.

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