ABRI must give up House seats, ex-general says

ABRI must give up House seats, ex-general says

BANDUNG (JP): Former Army chief of staff Gen. (ret.) Rudini
said yesterday that the military should give up their seats in
the House of Representatives, saying their presence in the
legislature was constitutionally "inappropriate."

Speaking in an Army-sponsored seminar on the political role of
the military, Rudini, who served as home minister between 1988
and 1993, said all seats in the House should be contested through
general elections.

The military, he argued, should carry out their political role
largely through the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

"So they should be given seats like other professional groups
such as the ulemas in the MPR," he said, adding. "ABRI is also a
profession."

ABRI, which currently has 100 of the 500 seats in the House,
is scaling down its presence to 75 seats beginning next year. The
other 425 seats will be contested at the May general election by
Golkar, the dominant political group, the United Development
Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party.

The seats were allocated to ABRI in the past on the ground
that its members do not vote in general elections.

The MPR, which elects the president and vice president and
draws up the policy guidelines every five years, has 1,000
members, comprising the 500 House members and 500 people selected
from all walks of life.

Rudini said the 1945 Constitution allows for the allocation of
seats to professional groups within the MPR. "But seats in the
DPR should be decided by the people who exercise their (voting)
rights."

Rudini was one of the speakers in a discussion on the
"Actualization of Fighting Values and ABRI's Dual Function in
Defining ABRI's Socio-Political Role."

The discussion was held at the Army Staff and Command College
and involved also Lt. Gen. (ret.) Harsudiono Hartas. The
college's chief, Maj. Gen. Yunus Yosfiah opened the meeting.

Rudini highlighted current misunderstanding of ABRI's dual
function -- in security and in politics.

The concept grew out of the prevailing circumstances of the
mid-1960s, which required army officers to fill civilian
administrative positions.

Rudini criticized the evolving perception that a certain
number of key civilian positions had to be given to the military.

"That's wrong, it shouldn't be so. Especially when you start
saying that specific positions, such as regents, mayors and
governors should be given to ABRI," he said. (17/mds)