ABRI faces dilemma in quelling unrest

ABRI faces dilemma in quelling unrest

SURABAYA (JP): The Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) admitted to
experiencing self-doubt when it had to immediately quell social
unrest in various parts of the country.

"We find this dilemmatic," admitted Armed Forces Chief of
Sociopolitical Affairs Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid. "If we move to
handle something too quickly, we are then accused of interfering.
If we play by the rules or follow sequence, then we are left out
or lose out."

The three-star general spoke to the press on Tuesday after
addressing a seminar on Indonesian Moslems facing the 21st
century, at Airlangga University. The other speakers at the
seminar included political lecturers Priyatmoko and Bachtiar
Effendi, and political observer Eky Syahrudin.

"Despite the dilemma, however, ABRI won't bargain when it
comes to safeguarding the 1997 general elections. Whoever tries
to create unrest to disturb the polls (will have to contend with
ABRI)," Syarwan was quoted by Antara as saying.

"There's no choice, really. We'll have to ensure security so
that (the general elections) can proceed, because it represents
another milestone in the nation's trip into the future," he said.

Over the past year, Indonesia has been repeatedly jolted by
various riots. Following the July 27 riots over a leadership
conflict in the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), some sectarian
and ethnic unrest took place in places such as the East Java town
of Situbondo, the West Java town of Tasikmalaya, some West
Kalimantan districts, and the Central Java town of Pekalongan.

Syarwan said the riots took place because of an accumulation
of various unsolved social and political problems. The first
factor he cited was rivalry between the three political
contestants -- the ruling Golkar, PDI and the United Development
Party.

Sometimes, the campaign to seek public sympathy and votes was
conducted in ways which violated the rules, he said.

The second element he named was the "objective economic,
political, social and cultural situations which are still left
unattended." "We need, for instance, to solidify the relations
between ethnic groups," he said.

The last factor he mentioned was "foreign concepts" which did
not agree with the national consensus for unity. He named the
activists of the unrecognized Democratic People's Party (PRD),
which allegedly had been seeking to topple the government by
disseminating leftist ideology, as an example of people trying to
introduce foreign concepts.

In another part of his explanation, Syarwan also said that
elements in society seeking to usurp the country usually do so by
pitting ABRI against the Moslem community. "Their ultimate goal
is to put ABRI on a collision course with Moslems," he said.

He then called on Indonesian Moslems to be weary of rumors and
virtually all other efforts to pit them against ABRI. (nur/swe)