PKI Descendants May Enroll In The TNI, Ex-Kabais: I Guarantee They Will Never Pass!

Illustration (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - TNI Commander General Andika Perkasa has allowed descendants from families affiliated with the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) to register as TNI soldiers.

In response to this, the former head of the TNI's Strategic Intelligence Agency (Kabais) Rear Admiral (Purn) Soleman Ponto said that from the start there was no special prohibition for PKI descendants to register for the TNI.

"Right, the Commander-in-Chief stated that children descended from the PKI may register for the entrance test for members of the TNI. If they only take the test, that's fine," said Soleman in a short message, Monday, April 4.

However, Soleman predicts that the descendants of the PKI will never be able to pass the selection of TNI soldiers. Because, after all, Soleman emphasized that the descendants of the PKI must still be influenced by communist ideology from their families.

"I guarantee that I will never be able to escape (as a soldier). Because, as a descendant of the PKI, it is always inevitable to be influenced by (communism)," said Soleman.

Moreover, the TNI soldier recruitment system already has clear measurements to assess the influence of ideologies that are contrary to Pancasila and have been banned by the state.

"The TNI has a measuring tool to assess this influence. So, just implement (the recruitment system) what has been done so far. There is no need to make a fuss because everything has been carried out consistently," he explained.

As is known, TNI Commander General Andika Perkasa reminded his staff that descendants of members of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) should not be the reason for thwarting prospective soldiers in the selection process.

Andika explained that if the selection committee thwarted a prospective soldier because of PKI descent, it would be a decision that had no legal basis. The former Army Chief of Staff asked his staff for the 2022 TNI recruitment selection committee to delete questions that asked about the kinship relationship between prospective soldiers and the PKI.