ABRI and the people<\/p>\n
Since former president Soeharto was forced to step down in
\nMay, the Armed Forces (ABRI) has been forced to stand back and
\nwatch while demands for total reform rise to a fever pitch.<\/p>\n
The demands of the reform movement, articulated so
\nvociferously by university students, is nothing but normal in a
\nnation that has only recently managed to free itself from the
\nyoke of an iron rule lasting for more than three decades. The
\nrecent escalation in demonstrations calling for reform stems from
\na growing feeling among students that the new administration,
\nwhich consists largely of former Soeharto errand boys, is
\nreluctant to respond to their demands.<\/p>\n
It would appear that the students' garishly colored university
\njackets may have blinded some of the military's top brass, while
\ntheir clamorous chants, which have become somewhat excessive, may
\nhave rendered the generals deaf.<\/p>\n
ABRI Commander Gen. Wiranto has repeatedly vowed to take stern
\naction against the pro-reform movement, but he went too far when
\nhe sent a volunteer Moslem militia onto the streets to police
\nstudent demonstrators during the Special Session of the People's
\nConsultative Assembly. Political observers lamented the move and
\nsaid that it set a bad example to a general public desperately in
\nneed of a political education. Islamic scholars have repeatedly
\ndeplored the move and branded it as an attempt to pit Moslem
\nagainst Moslem.<\/p>\n
Wiranto's recent statement to the House of Representatives
\nCommission I on defense and security clearly demonstrates the
\ndeficiencies in the Armed Forces' attitude toward the student
\nmovement and its unwillingness to heed the people's demand for
\nreform.<\/p>\n
The general appeared irritated by demands for the results of
\nan investigation into the fatal clashes of Nov. 13 to be made
\npublic. The same dismissive attitude has greeted those who have
\ncalled for new inquiries into a 1984 riot in Tanjung Priok, North
\nJakarta, and many unsatisfactorily resolved incidents in Aceh in
\nrecent years in which hundreds of innocent people are thought to
\nhave lost their lives.<\/p>\n
Wiranto said these proposals were designed as an attack on the
\nArmed Forces and denied the public their constitutional right to
\nknow the truth. The victims' families must be allowed to find out
\nwhat became of their loved ones and the authorities' reluctance
\nto observe this most basic courtesy cannot be commended.<\/p>\n
ABRI has always claimed it belongs to the people, but the
\ncurrent military leadership's reaction to political aspirations
\nvoiced by the general public shows that a wall divides the two.
\nThe military has lost touch with its roots and tradition and has
\nforgotten that it was as an army of the people that it became the
\nproud and respected institution that it once was.<\/p>\n
We fully understand that explaining the myriad tragedies of
\nrecent months presents Gen. Wiranto with a Herculean task.
\nFurthermore, his inability to keep at bay the mysterious troops
\narmed with fatal bullets that allegedly fired into the crowds at
\nTrisakti University in May and at the Semanggi intersection
\nearlier this month has left him facing mounting calls to resign.
\nBut this unprecedented pressure should not make the Armed Forces
\nthe nemesis of reform and the enemy of the people.<\/p>\n
The public still views the Armed Forces with patience and
\nunderstands that its present guise is inseparable from the old
\nsystem and mentality, under which Soeharto enslaved the military
\nand used it to meet his own personal ends.<\/p>\n
However, there are striking similarities between contemporary
\nIndonesia and Iran under the Shah Reza Pahlevi, where the
\nmilitary showed loyalty only to the ruler and ignored the
\nnational constitution and the people.<\/p>\n
Even in Iran, with what was said to be the strongest army in
\nAsia, it took only 36 hours for the country to fall to its knees
\nbefore a wave of angry revolutionaries.<\/p>\n
The difference between Indonesia and Iran is that the people
\nhere actually want to see the Armed Forces remain solid and take
\ntheir side in the crisis, although there is a consensus that its
\ndual function must be reduced. So the military leadership should
\nnot regard the reform movement as an enemy intent on
\nconfrontation, but should instead reflect on where the Armed
\nForces came from and where it would be without the people's
\nsupport.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/abri-and-the-people-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}