ABRI in the 90s takes a political back seat: Ma'ruf
ABRI in the 90s takes a political back seat: Ma'ruf
JAKARTA (JP): The Armed Forces is taking a back seat when it
comes to politics and allowing civilians to take all the
initiatives, its new chief of socio-political affairs says.
The Armed Forces (ABRI), however, is not completely washing
its hands of politics and is prepared to move to the forefront
anytime the situation demands, Maj. Gen. Moch. Ma'ruf said
yesterday in his first media conference since his appointment
last week.
Ma'ruf's main task, as outlined by ABRI Chief Gen. Feisal
Tanjung during his inauguration last week, is to advise him on
how the military should carry out its political tasks.
Under ABRI's dual-role concept, the military is recognized as
both a defense force and a political force.
Ma'ruf described ABRI's current position in Indonesian
political development as 'tut wuri handayani', a philosophical
Javanese expression meaning to supervise from behind.
"Don't interpret this in the narrow sense as if ABRI is
completely withdrawing from the nation-building process," he
said, stressing that the military will continue to encourage the
development of democracy in the country.
The intention of taking this position is to give civilian
political forces ample opportunity to play their role in building
the Pancasila democracy, he said.
ABRI could change its position, however, should circumstances
change. It could move to the forefront to set the tone, he said
(in accordance with the Javanese philosophy ing ngarso sung
tulodo), or move to the middle and help build initiative (ing
madyo mangun karso).
"If we have to move to the middle or to the front, we're ready
for it. But we feel that the political condition of the country
currently is quite good and that is why we're giving liberty to
the other forces to play a more active role."
Asked on ABRI's position regarding the conflict at the
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), Ma'ruf firmly stated that the
military supports the leadership of Megawati Soekarnoputri.
He said the military will not allow a rival board, which is
challenging Megawati's leadership, to hold their meetings again
in the future.
Megawati's opponents in the PDI held a meeting last month in
Cipayung, near Jakarta, after which they announced the lineup of
a rival board led by Jusuf Merukh.
Many of Megawati's supporters denounced the authorities for
allowing the meeting to take place.
Ma'ruf said that the meeting proceeded without the
authorities' permission.
He said, however, that the military will not intervene in any
other party conflicts. "I sincerely hope they can resolve this
problem through deliberation and consensus."
On East Timor, Ma'ruf said ABRI's presence in the territory is
to promote both stability and development. "We need to maintain
some presence. Otherwise, the rebels will continue to destroy
whatever we build there," he said referring to the remnants of
Fretilin, the armed separatist movement.
He said he hoped the East Timorese people would understand
that development is for their own benefit. "We've got to
communicate with them to eliminate misunderstandings about the
military presence."
Ma'ruf said a military fact-finding team led by Brig. Gen.
Sumarna T. recently returned from East Timor after investigating
the killing of six people by the military in the Liquisa regency
last month.
The military based in East Timor insist that the six killed
were supporters of Fretilin and that they were all killed during
an armed conflict. A number of East Timorese, however, say the
six were unarmed farmers.
ABRI plans to establish a honorary military council to follow
up on the investigation and to advise on the need for
disciplinary action, he said, in the event of troopers violating
procedure.
"Please be patient. We'll announce the results as soon as we
complete the evaluation of the investigation," he said.
Meanwhile Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung said
yesterday that the military investigation team may want to talk
to Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, East Timor's Roman Catholic
leader, about the killing.
Belo had earlier written to President Soeharto to protest the
Liquisa incident. (imn)