A reflection on military violence<\/p>\n
By Harkiman Racheman<\/p>\n
MEDAN (JP): Despite some of the phenomenal changes that have
\ntaken place within the current administration, the Habibie-led
\nIndonesia is currently witnessing numerous scenes and acts of
\nviolence occurring in different parts of the country. The most
\nrecent incidents of violence would include the Acehnese and the
\nEast Timorese rebellions against the Indonesian Armed Forces.<\/p>\n
What these cases of violence indicate is that the biggest
\ncontribution of the Indonesian Military (TNI) has been toward
\nusing legalized violence against ordinary citizens. The violence
\nhas been shrewdly identified by a staunch critic of the New Order
\nand Habibie administrations Lt. Gen (ret) Ali Sadikin as having
\nhad a \"strong culture\" in the Indonesian Military for a long
\ntime. (The Jakarta Post, Aug. 25.)<\/p>\n
Due to the increasingly besmirched image of the military, no
\none would for instance, question why the East Timorese Nobel co-
\nlaureate Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo accused the military
\nof having masterminded the present anti-proindependence East
\nTimorese aggression in Dili.<\/p>\n
To the Catholic newspaper Avvenire, Belo said that the
\nhorrific killings in East Timor were in fact a \"very real attack
\nplanned around a table by the Indonesian Military\" who control
\n\"the militias like pawns\" (the Post, Sept. 8).<\/p>\n
Most acts of military violence in the country assume different
\nshapes and sizes. They may at times appear as a sheer
\nimplementation of routine military orders, but, at other times as
\nlegalized or organized human exploitation. However, when
\nperceived at a much deeper level, those organized crimes are
\nsimply abhorrent incidents of violence as they all implicitly
\nreflect the same modus operandi.<\/p>\n
Basically, there is a kind of recurrent pattern or operational
\nmode which heavily characterizes any expressions or eruptions of
\nmilitary violence. This pattern, therefore, needs to be disclosed
\nso that the anatomy of the so-called \"culture of violence\" in the
\nmilitary can become essential public knowledge.<\/p>\n
It needs to be stressed at the outset that incidents of mass
\nviolence in Indonesia are almost always conducted by officially
\nrecognized institutions and, hence, the people associated with
\nthem. These violence-initiating institutions often possess
\nabsolute control, limitless power, as well as unrestricted
\nauthority over the majority of people.<\/p>\n
In other words, those who take the initiative to use violence
\nin the country are likely to be an official organization, or its
\nelements, and could easily avoid committing the acts in the first
\nplace.<\/p>\n
In Indonesia, as it is widely acknowledged, the only official
\ninstitution which has a limitless monopoly of power is the
\nIndonesian Military. The fact that Gen. Wiranto was capable of
\n\"forcing\" President B.J. Habibie to approve a proposal for
\ndeclaring at midnight on Sept. 7 the military state of emergency
\nin East Timor, despite the Cabinet plenary meeting's opposition
\nto the move, speaks for itself.<\/p>\n
\"It is scary to think,\" said the Post in its editorial on
\nSept. 8, 1999, \"that we are giving carte blanche to an
\ninstitution with a long history of human rights abuses, not only
\nin East Timor but elsewhere in Indonesia, including Aceh\".<\/p>\n
The general assumption has now been proven: that widespread
\nviolence is likely to continue in the same frequency and
\nintensity if the military, just like now, are maintained as the
\nunchallenged sole holder of excessive power over the civilian
\npopulace. Like it or not, as the well-known cliche goes, if
\nanything, power only tends to corrupt.<\/p>\n
But why should the military continue to tread the way of
\nviolence to achieve its goals? Hasn't it been obvious enough that
\nviolence only climaxes in sheer anarchy or total destruction for
\nall? Wouldn't it be sensible to expect peaceful mutual
\ncompromises without having to recourse to any counterproductive
\nforce? Wouldn't it be sensible to find ways that are truly
\nacceptable by any civilized society?<\/p>\n
The answers to those oft-raised questions are surprisingly
\nquite straightforward even though many may not have realized
\nthem. In the first place, military firmness has all this time
\nbeen traditionally associated with the seemingly necessary use of
\nforce. In addition to that, the \"effective\" use of violence has
\nso far overwhelmed military personnel so additively that their
\nexternal communication has been largely through the language of
\nviolence and intimidation.<\/p>\n
The misuse of violence by especially elements of the military
\nin solving matters is still rampant. To the general public, it is
\nevident that the violent nature of military personnel is so
\nspontaneous that they would not bother to curtail their
\nbehavior. However, let us not forget that the price to pay for
\nthe harm it causes is tremendous. When violence is used as \"a
\nmeans\" in itself, by largely neglecting the humanitarian aim
\nunderlying any action, the military only inflicts unbearable
\nlong-term suffering upon the already oppressed and terrified
\npeople.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the so far \"successful\" use of violence -- a
\nfalse teaching handed down from the Soeharto-style military
\nleadership -- has given rise to a great deal of addicts of
\nviolence. These trained professionals, accordingly, often find
\nthemselves overusing force in carrying out their duties to
\nmaintain peace and order. And, the worst of it occurs when
\nexcessive force is used to deal with unarmed civilian protesters
\nsuch as student demonstrators. The Trisakti and Semanggi
\ntragedies are self-explanatory indeed.<\/p>\n
Are the general public, then, to blame if they have conjured
\nup in their empirical minds such an ugly image of the Indonesian
\nMilitary? Is it not true that the military is in actual fact a
\nhighly organized armed organization that is likely to abuse power
\nand force? Would they be blamed for assuming that the military
\nwas, is, and will always be, behind obviously engineered social
\nupheavals?<\/p>\n
What breaks our heart even more as a nation is the fact that
\nthis unfavorable image of the Indonesian Military has
\nunfortunately developed all the more aggressively in the outside
\nworld. This can be seen in the case of the British Foreign
\nAffairs minister's statement concerning the brutal killings in
\npost-referendum East Timor to BBC radio.<\/p>\n
\"We are all appalled and alarmed,\" said Robin Cook, \"at the
\nmurder of innocent civilians, by the brutality that's going on
\nnow in East Timor, and the evidence is that the Indonesian
\nsecurity forces are not intervening and indeed may themselves be
\nhelping the militias who are carrying out the brutality\" (the
\nPost, Sept. 8).<\/p>\n
The problem is when those continuous practices of military
\nviolence cannot any longer be rationalized by their victims, it
\nis feared that they will undergo severe accumulative frustration.
\nIf destructive forces are continuously used by military power-
\nmanipulators who show no interest in alternative and nonviolent
\nmeasures, the human casualties they cause will be so thoroughly
\nincapable of comprehending the physical ordeal imposed on them
\nthat they may eventually explode in socially self-destructive
\nanarchy.<\/p>\n
In a narrower context, if innocent members of society are
\nmistreated by military forces over a long period of time, they
\nwill surely accumulate their sense of frustration and despair in
\norder to release them collectively in the form of colossal social
\nriots and calamities. And, if the ruling authorities fail to
\nagain grasp the substance of the matter, a tendency to social
\nrevolt and banditry are inevitable.<\/p>\n
That is why the acts of violence by the pro-Jakarta East
\nTimorese militias must be stopped now before it is too late. The
\ncivilian casualties cannot be expected to endure the inhuman
\nkillings for very much longer. It is just a matter of time before
\nthe pro-independence East Timorese will come out of their closets
\nfor an equally crazed retaliation. When this happens, even United
\nNations peacekeeping forces may not be able to do much to end an
\neven more horrific bloody civil war.<\/p>\n
But what can we do to solve the East Timorese tragedy? While a
\nperfect answer may well be difficult at this time, it is clear
\nthat deconstructing and rebuilding the violence-laden mentality
\nof the East Timorese warring factions can never happen overnight,
\nand certainly not through military violence.<\/p>\n
There is an axiomatic reality that violence cannot end by
\nviolence. The East Timorese violence can only be alleviated and
\ngradually abolished by reciprocal tolerance and gentleness.
\nOtherwise, the violence and hatred circle will continue to roll
\non endlessly, but, with increasing pain and suffering on the part
\nof innocent children, women and other civilians.<\/p>\n
Similarly, the civil society we are hoping to establish in a
\nfuture Indonesia can never be realized through similar military
\nforce or intimidation. Very strong foundations such as democracy,
\nfully protected human rights, supremacy of law, as well as social
\njustice, are truly essential in order to make that ideal society
\nhappen. Therefore, it would make little sense to attempt a final
\nsettlement to the age-old East Timorese problem by way of
\nreinventing or reengineering new means of violence.<\/p>\n
Thus, please stop all the violence now, and cease the culture
\nof violence structurally associated with the Indonesian Military.
\nThe general public should now unite to stage mass rallies for
\npeaceful objections and protests against any forms of structural
\nuse of force and intimidation in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
In the mean time, the winning reformist political parties
\nshould pioneer efforts for the entire population to take measures
\nin order to realize a nonviolent Indonesia. It is high time that
\nwe as a nation showed the international community that, despite
\nthose incidents in Ambon, Aceh and East Timor and so forth, that
\nthe majority of our people abhor violence and are in fact peace-
\nloving.<\/p>\n
The rightful East Timorese leader Jose Alexandre \"Xanana\"
\nGusmao assured Indonesia that the winning East Timorese would not
\nproject enmity toward Indonesian people. After his recent
\nrelease, Xanana said from the British Embassy in Jakarta where he
\nwas sheltering that despite his struggle against the oppressive
\nIndonesian military system that had \"antagonized\" the people of
\nEast Timor, \"at no point, have we fought against the people of
\nIndonesia\". (The Post, Sept. 8, 1999.)<\/p>\n
In the mean time, we must take advantage of the momentum and
\nuse the remaining opportunities and momentum quickly and
\nappropriately in order to show the international community our
\ntrue colors. We must demonstrate that despite all the mistakes
\nand shortcomings of the Armed Forces, the majority of the
\nIndonesian people, many of whom are also victims of violence,
\ncompletely reject all kinds of violence, military or civilian, in
\nEast Timor and elsewhere. Or, we will continue to be remembered
\nas a nation of rapists, corruptors, invaders and aggressors.<\/p>\n
The writer is a graduate from Victoria University in
\nWellington, New Zealand. Based in Medan, he is currently a
\nfreelance writer and university lecturer.<\/p>",
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