A matter of neutrality

A matter of neutrality

In the process of its political development, Indonesia seems
to have hit upon the art of seeking culprits every time a
political organization is involved in an internal dispute. This
is even more true when the crisis has grown out of hand and a
group of losers has set up a rival party leadership board.

The authorities say that such crises, which are in reality no
more than an irritating trend, are made possible by a decline in
the virtue of discipline within the given organization and the
lack of capability to solve problems under the Indonesian
philosophy of musyawarah (deliberation towards consensus). This
notion was repeated by Minister of Defense and Security Edi
Sudradjat in a meeting with the House of Representatives'
Commission I on Tuesday.

On the other side, political party leaders have long
complained that the authorities' hands are not as clean as they
claim with regard to internal party squabbles. They allege that
some officials have tried to stir the pot. Legislators of the
Indonesian Democratic Party, for instance, have accused the Armed
Forces of "engineering" the internal problems hitting their party
in an effort to ensure an absolute majority for Golkar, the
government backed political grouping, in the next general
elections. The accusation was made after the secretary-general of
the Indonesian Democratic Party, Alex Litaay, was reportedly
kidnapped by a rival group within the party.

Another thing which has given rise to widespread assumptions
of government support for the rival group led by a man called
Jusuf Merukh is the difficulty which supporters of The Indonesian
Democratic Party's chairwoman, Megawati Soekarnoputri, have
encountered in getting police permits to hold meetings. At the
same time Jusuf Merukh's people have apparently enjoyed freedom
to hold their own gatherings. The latest example of this was the
meeting held in Ciawi, Bogor, from Jan. 17 to Jan 19. Had that
meeting been organized by the legitimate group the police would
probably have dissolved it, or so the popular assumption seems to
be.

In the view of many political activists and political
scientists, those police permits have long been political
commodities. In part, this is because the issuance has appeared
highly selective.

In the light of these circumstances, it was quite a surprise
to hear Maj. Gen. Mochammad Ma'ruf, the new chief of the Armed
Forces' socio-political affairs department, say on Wednesday that
with regard to the emergence of rival groups in the Indonesian
Democratic Party, the military recognizes only the legality of
the elected leadership, led by Megawati. He added that the Armed
Forces would not grant those rival groups permission to hold
meetings. What is even more surprising about his statement is
that he did not hesitate to admit that the Armed Forces felt it
had been tricked ('kecolongan') by the rival group, which never
requested, nor obtained, a permit for its Bogor meeting a few
weeks ago.

It may be that Ma'ruf wants to improve his office's
capabilities in dealing with the intrigues of opportunistic
politicians and thereby recover the Armed Forces' image as a
stabilizing force in the country's political development program.

To judge by past experience, however, this may not be so easy
to accomplish. The fact is that although Minister of Home Affairs
Moch. Yogie S.M. has made statements similar in tone to Maj. Gen.
Ma'ruf's comments, the governors and their socio-political
directorates in the provinces have persisted in making the best
use of every opportunity to woo "accommodative elements" within
the Indonesian Democratic Party and the United Development Party
in order to facilitate their tasks as provincial development
patrons.

Thus, rival groups within the minority parties have continued
to enjoy the backing of some officials, and the police continue
to listen to them when it comes to issuing permits for meetings.
It is a fact of life in this country that, at present, there are
many opportunistic politicians in our political parties whose
questionable careers could never have lasted for so long had they
not flirted with the authorities.

We believe, however, that Gen. Ma'ruf was sincere in making
that statement. The thing to watch now is how successful he will
be in making his encouraging stand workable. The sad thing is
that if government officials persist in their ambiguity with
regard to their stated positions and actions, this nation will
continue to experience difficulties in its efforts to nurture the
growth of a healthy and responsible political climate.