Bakin chief: Power needs control to prevent cruelty<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The power of the government and military needs
\nto be controlled through a check and balance mechanism so as to
\navoid a repetition of past atrocities, chief of the State
\nIntelligence Coordinating Board (Bakin) Lt. Gen. (ret.) Z.A.
\nMaulani said on Monday in Aceh.<\/p>\n
Speaking to community and religious leaders and students in
\nthe troubled province, Maulani urged people to have patience,
\nsaying they were not the only ones to have suffered over the last
\n30 years.<\/p>\n
\"We have all become victims of circumstances, not only the
\nAcehnese,\" he said in the province's capital of Banda Aceh, as
\nquoted by Antara on Monday.<\/p>\n
He added that there had been victims in both the military,
\nincluding high ranking officers, and in the civilian community.<\/p>\n
For a long time, Maulani, considered an intellectual among the
\nmilitary, said he had been \"blacklisted\" by the government of
\nformer president Soeharto for his outspokenness against the
\nmilitary's political role.<\/p>\n
Regarding atrocities in Aceh during the military operations
\nfrom 1989 to 1998, Maulani said that as a military officer he had
\nalso condemned the \"unthinkable\" conduct of soldiers.<\/p>\n
\"I cried because there were soldiers who actually had the
\nheart to do such things that I could never think of as a military
\nofficer,\" he said. Reported rights abuses have included
\nabduction, torture and rape.<\/p>\n
\"What's wrong with this nation that its people had to be
\ntreated as badly as that?\" asked the former military commander
\nbased in Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
Maulani said there was an urgent need to create a mechanism to
\ncontrol the performance of the Armed Forces (ABRI), justice
\nministry, prosecutor's office and the police.<\/p>\n
Regarding ABRI, what needs to be changed is not only its
\ninstitutional organization but also its education system,
\ndoctrines, training regime and salaries, according to Maulani.<\/p>\n
He gave the example of the planned abolishment of the post of
\nterritorial affairs assistance, as is currently headed by Lt.
\nGen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.<\/p>\n
Next year there will only be a chief of staff of war, as there
\nhas been a plan to change ABRI to APRI, an acronym for war
\nforces, Maulani revealed. By then internal security affairs would
\nbe police affairs, while the military would only protect the
\nnation from external threats, he said.<\/p>\n
The bottom line of the proposed changes, according to Maulani,
\nwas meant to limit the power given to high ranking officers. \"The
\ngreater the power, the greater the effects of corruption,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"If we have no check and balance mechanism on power, we are on
\nthe brink annihilation,\" Maulani said.<\/p>\n
In the dialog, Governor Syamsuddin Mahmud mentioned some of
\nthe effects of the above military operations in Aceh: 874
\ncivilian deaths, 1,148 widows, thousands of orphans, 677 people
\ntortured, 792 missing and 292 who have been severely disabled by
\ninjuries.<\/p>\n
From late last year through early this year, violence
\ninvolving civilians and the military has left seven soldiers dead
\nand over a dozen civilians killed. (aan)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bakin-chief-power-needs-control-to-prevent-cruelty-1447893297",
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