This article is not in favor of or in any way promoting any of the presidential candidates. This is purely a personal opinion.
For the hundreds of thousands of this great nation’s military, the integrity of the republic is a price they are willing to die for. “NKRI harga mati” is their ideology and they will defend it at all cost.
My father and I, we seldom see things eye to eye. I can still remember the arguments we had during the days of Suharto’s fall in 1998. My father, an Army colonel, was born in West Sumatra, served his country for 3 decades, including operations in Egypt-Israel border with the UN forces, and has a degree from a military school in San Antonio, Texas, USA.
He, of course, a strong believer of the Suharto’s regime. Meanwhile, I was his rebellious son, a university student who marched on the street demanding the fall of Suharto. At the time, I didn’t understand his staunch support for the Orba regime, but now I have learned to understand his choices.