Chivalrous attitude<\/p>\n
One of the capital's dailies reported in its Sept. 6 edition
\nGen. (ret.) Rudini appealing to the community that it should stop
\nits condemnation of the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI). On the
\nprevious day, Minister of Defense and Security\/Commander of the
\nArmed Forces Gen. Wiranto made public his defense of the Armed
\nForces when he said \" ...don't bring the Armed Forces to
\njustice...\"<\/p>\n
It seems that the statements made by these two ABRI figures
\nhave been based on a mistaken assumption. People do not in the
\nleast intend to condemn, discredit or even bring to justice ABRI.
\nSo far, the people have been demanding that ABRI show its
\nchivalry and its accountability as a professional institution
\nupholding a high moral standard.<\/p>\n
As an institution, the Armed Forces cannot give a pretext that
\nit only carry out its professional tasks so that it cannot be
\nsimply blamed, as Rudini said in his statement.<\/p>\n
In fact, Wiranto demonstrated the chivalrous qualities of ABRI
\nwhen he openly tendered his apology for human rights violation
\ncases in Aceh. However, it seems that not all \"ranks\" of ABRI
\nfully agree to the stance taken by Wiranto and even the \"ranks\"
\nof retired Army men, as shown by Rudini, do not want to so easily
\n\"admit\" their mistakes.<\/p>\n
As a former high-ranking officer of the Armed Forces, Rudini
\nhas not shown quite an edifying attitude. He should have fully
\nsupported the gallant and chivalrous attitude as Wiranto and
\nPrabowo have demonstrated. In this respect, Rudini should place
\nhimself only as a model figure of ABRI, one that can give
\nencouragement from behind. One may get the impression from his
\nstatement that he does not wish to see ABRI take up a chivalrous
\nattitude, as already \"pioneered\" by Wiranto and also that he
\nprefers ABRI to go back to its \"basic attitude\", as already shown
\nso far, namely hiding behind obsolete pretexts such as \"a
\nprocedural mistake\", \"an analytical error\" and the like.<\/p>\n
The attitude shown by Rudini is \"quite understandable\" because
\nwhen he was a high-ranking officer -- among others the Army chief
\nof staff -- the Tanjung Priok case broke out. Also, when he was
\nminister of home affairs, various human rights violations
\noccurred in, among others, Aceh. It seems that Rudini is \"afraid\"
\nof being implicated in these cases. Hence his less chivalrous
\nstatement.<\/p>\n
Every past \"criminal case\" perpetrated by ABRI cannot be
\nclosed just by tendering an apology or by undertaking
\nhumanitarian and charitable acts. As a professional institution,
\nABRI must uphold moral ethics and professionalism by utterly
\nexposing all these \"criminal cases\", enforcing the law, bringing
\nthe perpetrators and the masterminds to court and providing the
\nvictims and their families with compensation.<\/p>\n
ABRI should do all these things and should not instead cleanse
\nitself of the guilt. Is it true, then, that the gut of the Armed
\nForces is only that much?<\/p>\n
MOH. ABDUL KARIM<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/chivalrous-attitude-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }