ABRI is for the people

ABRI is for the people

It was published in Kompas on March 19, 1999, that the Supreme
Advisory Council's chairman, Baramuli, was publicly seeking
"coalition" with the Armed Forces (ABRI) to win votes in the
coming elections.

Indeed, it is time now for Gen. Wiranto and ABRI to fully and
convincingly correct Hartono's gesture of wearing the yellow
jacket of the Functional Group (Golkar) when he was ABRI's
commander.

Such a gesture and statement from Hartono that ABRI is Golkar
confused us. Is ABRI a party, fully identified with Golkar? Or is
this the "past" that contravenes ABRI's sapta marga (oath) and
that ABRI is now back to basics, i.e. above all parties and
groupings, functioning purely for unity and security of this
country and its people?

From various instances, it is now obvious that we are seeing
action by people lacking respect for ABRI and not considering
ABRI as coming from the people and being for the people.

That ABRI was used by Soeharto might be a fact, just as Golkar
was a creation by Soeharto, as were the civil servants Corps
(Korpri) and Dharma Wanita organization.

So now comes the corrective moves and action: to be clear-cut,
clean and transparent. Does ABRI agree with Baramuli or not?
Wiranto has to clarify ABRI's stance.

Y. SANTO

Jakarta