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)