Military Ties with Foreign Countries Unaffected by Executions
4 May 2015 14:12 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Indonesian military (TNI) commander Gen. Moeldoko said the recent executions of drug convicts would not affect TNI’s military and defend ties with other countries.
“Our military ties with Australia are unaffected, and we have sound relations with Brazil as well because we purchased primary weaponry defense system (alutsista),” he said at the TNI headquarters in Cilangkap, Jakarta, on Monday, May 4, 2015.
According to him, the military would not always respond to the government’s decisions with strong reactions, and that there were times the TNI would resort to soft responses. He said when the government was having a heated relationship with a foreign nation, the military would still keep its cooperation with the latter’s military.
“The TNI has a role of being the counterweight between national interests and military ties,” he said.
The government executed eight drug convicts early on Wednesday, viz. Martin Anderson (Nigeria), Raheem Agbajee Salame (Nigeria), Okwudili Oyatanze (Nigeria), Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise (Nigeria), Rodrigo Gularte (Brazil), Andrew Chan (Australia), Myuran Sukumaran (Australia), and Zainal Abidin (Indonesia).
Two other condemned inmates who were initially included on the execution list, Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso (the Philippines) and Serge Areski Atlaoi (France), managed to dodge the firing squad as the government decided to put off their executions, pending the ending of their legal process.
The Wednesday executions have drawn the ire of several countries, including Australia, Brazil and the Netherlands, whose citizens were among the executed.
INDRA WIJAYA
