A hidden agenda laid bare

The likelihood of a hidden scheme concocted by the Indonesian Military (TNI) to hit us in the next two months, maybe even in the next two weeks, appears an increasingly worrisome possibility.

Consider three ostensibly separate political developments which, when taken together, could very soon spell disaster. They are TNI's involvement in East Timor, the state security bill and now the "expectations" of first Gen. Widodo and then Gen. Wiranto & Co. of violence during the upcoming General Session of People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

None of these elements is alarming in itself but combined they offer a very alarming conclusion indeed.

That TNI followed a dark and dirty hidden agenda in East Timor, in spite of all its solemn denials and forceful reassurances, is no longer beyond reasonable doubt. Only the policy cruelly backfired. At the same time, TNI is ramming down the throats of the members of the House of Representatives (DPR) a state security bill which, as former minister/secretary of state Moerdiono admitted, even the Soeharto regime kept in the closet because it was too draconian. Assurances of Wiranto and Sudradjat that such a law is a normal thing in a democracy is totally misleading: Indonesia has yet to implement the democratic culture of, say, the U.S. In the end it depends entirely on the quality of the people to whom such a law gives such broad leeway for fair implementation or abuse, and on the availability of a functioning system of checks and counterchecks, in whether such a law is an instrument for the protection of the state's legitimate interests, or for oppression. In the meantime, we have been able to find out how TNI applied the old security law of 1959 to impose a state of emergency in East Timor: to keep unwanted eyewitnesses out, and to field-test a scorched-earth policy to set an example for all would-be separatists and referendum proponents in Irian Jaya, Aceh and elsewhere.

TNI wants to have their coveted bill in their lap by Sept. 24, to brandish something else than the now discredited 1959 law.

It's not unlikely that approving this bill on Sept. 23, one day before the present "people's representation" is dissolved, will be the last shameful act of a bunch of discredited accomplices elected by the "democratic" single vote of the "father of all votes" and the "mother of all elections", Haji Mohammad Soeharto.

And, finally, there is this most curious mill of warnings that started turning last week about the current situation as "not conducive" for the general session of the MPR. The timing and course of action laid out by TNI in this case is extremely conspicuous. Widodo gave his speech to an exclusive meeting of the country's district commanders. Coming from the military's second in command and in such an exclusive setting, it cannot have sounded to the chiefs of the military resorts as anything else than a formal briefing, but in an informal format to mislead the public about its real intentions (with Wiranto waiting in the wings to offer a denial or affirmation depending on the public reaction). It was indeed an outline of a future course of action, a test of instructions to be followed by all attendants, but without the possibly embarrassing evidence later of incriminating orders on paper.

Golkar Party's reform elements, such as Marzuki Darusman, and Amien Rais, both of them sharp as ever, and Hamzah Haz in a moment of lucidity -- but oddly enough not Megawati Soekarnoputri or Akbar Tanjung -- voiced strong concern about the statement the next day. For the rest of the nation, apart from a couple of alert students and people like Goenawan Muhamad, the remarks went largely unnoticed. TNI, as planned, got the cryptic message across and reported in the media without an outcry.

IDRIS KYRWAY

Jakarta