ABRI means to uphold control in politics: Crouch

JAKARTA (JP): Most Armed Forces (ABRI) officers mean to maintain the military's dominant direct role in the government despite increasing open criticism, according to a respected Indonesia watcher.

Harold Crouch of the Australian National University said yesterday the Armed Forces would continue clinging to its "dual function" or Dwifungsi doctrine in both defense and politics by reserving key positions in the government to retired military officers.

"I think most ABRI officials want to implement the dual role doctrine by playing a direct role in the government," he told a seminar sponsored by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

The military's role in politics and defense, once a too sensitive issue to discuss in public, came under intense scrutiny in the seminar sponsored by the state agency.

The debate also featured Indonesia military observer Hasnan Habib, a retired army general and former Indonesian ambassador to the United States, and a member of National Commission of Human Rights, Brig. Gen. Roekmini Koesoemoastoeti.

In the first day of the two-day seminar reassessing the New Order's political format, Crouch said the dual function remained a focus of debate among both civilians and ABRI officers almost 50 years after the concept was brought into being by Indonesian military founders.

In the military, he said, most officers believe in what he called "structural dual function", which means that the Armed Forces should maintain its dominant direct role in politics.

But there are more moderate officers who believe that the military should gradually lessen their role in government, making way for the civilians to the forefront.

They believe that the Armed Forces should act only if the situation requires them to do so.

"Thus if Indonesia has been politically stable, economically developing and facing no external threats, ABRI should reduce its role and give bigger opportunities to the civilian to the bureaucracy," he said.

There is a growing awareness among the military circle that they should reduce their role in politics because more and more civilians are able to fill positions in the bureaucracy, he said.

Civilians, he said, are split into those who totally reject the dual role concept and others who want to see the military's part in politics be limited.

He said some civilians see the dual function concept aims to legitimize the military domination in the Indonesian politics.

But the moderate group, believing that the "civil-ization" process in the administration continues, does not want to risk confrontation with the military, turning to more persuasive approach.

Progressive

Roekmini, a former legislator from the Armed Forces faction well-known for her unusual outspokenness, acknowledged that the dual function concept was under increasing scrutiny as people's political awareness was improving.

She argued that what ABRI should do to safeguard its image was to "dynamize" the concept and make sure that its implementation does not deviate from the original noble course as intended by its founding fathers.

Within the Armed Forces, she said, the conservative group meant to maintain the concept as it is now disregarding of the people's criticism. She describes those belong to this group as "suspicious and defensive" and would not understand what the public demand of them.

"But the progressive, including myself, believe that the concept should be kept up-to-date in line with the actual condition," she said.

Hasnan said that at the formal level, there was no clear indication if the Armed Forces wanted to review or maintain the dual-function doctrine.

He said Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung's recent remarks that the doctrine needed reviewing sparked debates among military observers on what he actually meant.

"But I think he (Feisal) referred to the implementation rather than the concept," he said. (pan)