Indonesia general to head state food procurement company, sparking concerns

JAKARTA, Indonesia — 

Indonesia's assignment of an service wide to tally the nationalist nutrient procurement institution has raised concerns astir the enlargement of subject roles nether President Prabowo Subianto, with a rights activistic saying it besides violated subject laws.

Major General Novi Helmy Prasetya was named main enforcement of Bulog, a almighty authorities logistics institution successful complaint of government-controlled imports of atom and different important nutrient staples, connected the weekend, becoming the archetypal progressive work wide successful the relation since the authoritarian authorities of General Suharto.

Under subject laws, soldiers are allowed to capable civilian posts lone astatine authorities institutions successful sectors specified arsenic defense, security, quality and catastrophe response. They are besides not allowed to beryllium progressive successful authorities and business.

"This is simply a menace to ideology and a usurpation towards the law," said Ardi Manto Adiputra, manager of Indonesian rights radical Imparsial, precocious connected Monday.

The equipped forces are taxable to the subject justness system, which is abstracted from the civilian transgression code, raising issues of oversight and transparency astatine immoderate authorities instauration tally by progressive work officers, Adiputra said.

State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir said the assignment was a strategical determination towards achieving a extremity of nutrient self-sufficiency, according to authorities quality bureau Antara.

The SOE ministry and the statesmanlike connection bureau did not respond to Reuters' petition for comment.

The subject instrumentality does not stipulate penalties for specified a breach. However, the assignment tin beryllium appealed done a petition to the administrative court.

It follows different military appointments successful civic works since Prabowo took bureau successful October, a inclination that has caused unease among immoderate radical arsenic it raises comparisons to Suharto's military-backed authorities erstwhile the equipped forces dominated nationalist life.

Prabowo was a subject commandant nether Suharto, his erstwhile father-in-law. Suharto was overthrown successful 1998.

Sana Jaffrey, a probe chap astatine the Australian National University, noted Prabowo had appointed different progressive work officers, specified arsenic his furniture caput and elder officials astatine the ministries of agriculture and transportation, which she said showed helium trusted the subject to assistance him conscionable his goals.

"But he's not consenting to see the semipermanent governmental consequences of placing progressive subject officers successful civilian roles, whether this is astatine likelihood with the instrumentality oregon what benignant of organization harm this mightiness cause," she said.