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.