Responding To Jokowi, TNI Commander Yudo Jamin TNI Netral Faced The 2024 General Election

TNI Commander Admiral Yudo Margono. (Between-Akbar Nugroho Gumay)

TNI Commander Admiral Yudo Margono stated that he was ready to follow President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi) instructions which required the security forces to be neutral ahead of the 2024 General Election.

Yudo admitted that the political neutrality of the TNI has been one of his commitments since taking part in the fit and proper test at the DPR before being sworn in as TNI Commander.

"Yes, that's right. My time starting to fit and proper test guarantees that the TNI must be neutral. Of course I will be consistent with that," said Yudo on the sidelines of the Regional Head Coordination Meeting (Rakornas) and the 2023 Regional Leadership Coordination Forum (Forkopimda), at Sentul International Convention Center, Bogor, West Java, Tuesday, January 17, was confiscated by Antara.

The Commander also stated that he would re-emphasize the instructions regarding TNI's political neutrality to all staff, as a follow-up to anticipate the 2024 General Election.

Yudo also reminded that the existence of the TNI Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS) actively always strives to anticipate potential violations of political neutrality within the armed forces.

"Yes, if there are individuals, we will definitely process the law. We have legal instruments with POM, there is POM TNI, there is POMAL, there is POMAD, and POMAU. Yes, it's just a legal mechanism," he said.

The Commander emphasized that the implementation of the TNI bureaucratic reform he promoted, was also included in the implementation of law enforcement within the organization.

"If it is criminalized, it will be criminal. So for soldiers who violate the law, of course, we will definitely impose legal sanctions," said Yudo.

Previously, in his remarks when opening the National Coordination Meeting for Regional Heads-Forkopimda 2023, President Jokowi reminded that the TNI-Polri not to be involved in practical politics is one of the important aspects in efforts to maintain political stability and security towards the 2024 General Election.

"I really ask that you can maintain a conducive situation. Keep our society from becoming a victim of politics, called identity politics. And I need to remind the TNI and Polri not to practice politics," said Jokowi.