ABRI not here just to clean up

ABRI not here just to clean up

DEPOK, West Java (JP): A top military official says the Armed Forces (ABRI) is no longer willing to clean up the mess left by other people's incompetence.

Chief of ABRI sociopolitical affairs Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid said in a discussion with students at the University of Indonesia here Saturday that in the past ABRI had always acted as a "fire extinguisher" on social unrest.

Now, however, the military "will no longer be a repressive force", he said.

"We are ready to be 'controlled'," he told some 300 people in the audience. He did not elaborate.

Syarwan noted that the military's previous "repressive" approach was called for because of other institutions' incompetent handling of social and economic matters, such as labor and land disputes. He specifically named the All-Indonesia Workers Union, the only government sanctioned labor union in the country, as an example of the institutions.

"ABRI looks forward to seeing each party (in society) function properly," he said. "Depending on force alone does not solve problems."

Syarwan, however, dismissed the suggestion that ABRI will now do away with its security approach. He pointed out that the concept of "security approach" did not allude to repression.

"Security approach does not mean a repressive approach. It is a vision," he said. "Any institution which neglects security will perish. And that also applies to a nation."

"Threats toward a nation will never disappear. It means that the security approach cannot be abandoned, but we are giving it a smaller role," Syarwan explained.

Cautious

Syarwan, who was appointed to the post only last month, was cautious when speaking about the much-demanded political openness. He admitted that there was a need for greater corridors but stressed that openness should only be given in such a way which does not jeopardize order.

"This openness should develop inside a safety zone. We don't want it to get out of control. We want to manage it so that it won't run wild," he said.

The discussion was part of a week-long leadership course, which concluded yesterday, for the university's freshmen and second-year students.

It gave the participants an overview of the domestic political scene and featured prominent speakers such as poet and writer Emha Ainun Nadjib, former TV talk show host Wimar Witoelar and political observer Ekky Syahrudin.

Ekky, a student activist during the political upheavals of the 1960s, gave a critical view of the military role and stressed the need for the establishment of a strong civil society.

"Do military members deserve to feel they have greater rights than civilians to determine the nation's goals?" he questioned.

However, he also pointed out that the military is actually a part of civil society, in the sense that soldiers, after they complete their service, eventually go back to being civilians.

"What's really permanent is the civil society (and)...its principles," he said.

The interrelation of the military and civilians is further shown in the fact that in the long run a weak civil society will weaken the military, he concluded.

Emha, known for his often blunt commentary on politics, said that the closer he got to people in ABRI, "the lesser my hopes become" of the kind of military that Syarwan envisions.

"Military officers like General Syarwan who likes to discuss things are a good sign," he said. "But if you go to remoter places, Pak Syarwan, you'll see officers who are hopeless."

He then described a few instances of social unrest which the military handled badly, including the shooting of four villagers in Nipah, Sampang, East Java in 1993.

During the question-answer session, Syarwan again defended his position. "It is the obsession of ABRI to maintain continuous development," he said. "I remind you that ABRI is committed to the people. We won't step back from this commitment."

Wimar, whose controversial talk show was abruptly halted last year, spoke of the widening social gap. "We need democracy to redress the gap," he said.

Syarwan on Saturday also spoke of the independent poll watchdog recently established by a group of intellectuals and activists. He said his earlier statements were never meant to condone the Independent Election Monitoring Committee.

"ABRI will welcome anybody who wants to have positive involvement in the 1997 general election. But they should not try to compete with the official institution," he said. (06)