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)