ABRI at 53 years old

ABRI, the Armed Forces, celebrates its 53rd anniversary today against a backdrop of declining public popularity.

The new reality is that people are extremely disappointed with the excessive implementation of ABRI's right, bequeathed to it by the Soeharto regime, to intervene in all national activities without limit or supervision. The privilege has made ABRI believe it can do no wrong.

Never before has our military appeared in the limelight with such a frightful face. But perhaps this is not surprising because for more than three decades it served as an effective tool of the authoritarian regime, and in doing so almost pushed the nation to the brink of calamity.

Soeharto, with ABRI's help, denied the people their constitutional rights for the sake of economic development. Now, with the economy collapsed, nobody has jumped forward to tell us what is left for the nation? We see there are bleeding wounds in the hearts of the people who were harassed to vote for Golkar, Soeharto's election machine. There is also an ill-favored soap opera in which military officers occupy civilian posts without restriction.

And in the darker chapters of the country's history, such as the 1984 Tanjung Priok incident and East Timor, are manifestations of official bloodbaths, most recently brought to light in the discovery of killing fields in Aceh. Added to this must be the observation that those responsible for the attrocities remain undisturbed in their highly placed positions.

The stories of the unbelievable acts of violence and human rights violations are beyond comparison. Heartless tyrants from Africa, Bosnia-Herzegovina or Cambodia -- if they still deem it necessary to learn more about the massacre of innocent people without an eyewitness daring to open his or her mouth -- should come here to study the art of the management of fear.

Now, at 53 years of age, ABRI has to be seen to be appreciating that its popularity is dwindling as the appeals intensify for the end of its dual function. The latest manifestation of its poor public image came in a recent independent survey, which found that 46.5 percent of the respondents did not believe ABRI was really protecting the people, compared to 39.1 percent who believed it was and 14.4 percent who abstained.

The survey also found as many as 50.2 percent did not believe in the veracity of the slogan "ABRI and the people are one", 42.6 percent said they believed the military was united with the people, while 7.3 percent said they did not know. The poll, titled ABRI and the People, was conducted by the Center for the Study of Development and Democracy (CESDA), a body linked to the respected Institute for Social and Economic Research, Education and Information (LP3ES).

In light of the unremitting demands for reform, we have repeatedly expressed the hope that ABRI leaders do not fail to understand the social change as a sign of the times. But we have not seen them understand that ABRI's dual function has already become an anachronism and anathema to democratic values.

They even keep threatening to take stern measures against reform-minded students and suspect political activists of having the desire to disturb public order.

This tendency among high-ranking generals shows they lack any understanding of history, in that it is not only civilians who have a habit to cause trouble. Military officers too have got involved in many national tragedies, from the kidnapping of prime minister Sutan Syahrir in Surakarta in 1946, the show of force against president Sukarno in front of the palace in 1952, the PRRI colonels' rebellions in Sumatra and North Sulawesi in 1958, to the 1965 communist coup attempt. The bloody clash between military units, in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, last week was not an unprecedented modern melodrama.

Clear demonstrations that ABRI leaders are reluctant to bow to popular demand are that they have refused to bring to justice those involved in Trisakti students shooting in May and only fired Lt. Gen. Prabowo, who admitted to ordering the kidnapping of political activists and have done nothing to punish the officers who were involved in the brutal murder of Marsinah, an East Java labor activist. The policy is clearly based on an efforts to show internal solidarity among ABRI members.

Such a policy will be counter-productive. As time goes on, the generals' insensitivity will only see the military being even further shunned by the people.