ABRI promises to get tough on troublemakers

JAKARTA (JP): Armed Forces (ABRI) Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung said Saturday the authorities would crush any bid to undermine security and disrupt the general election.

"We won't hesitate to take repressive action if necessary to put out any efforts to disturb the nation's stability and integration," Feisal said while addressing a United Development Party (PPP) leadership meeting.

He said stability was important to secure the May 29 election and the presidential election scheduled for March by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

The PPP, the Indonesian Democratic Party and Golkar will contest 425 seats in the 500-seat House of Representatives. The remaining 75 are reserved for ABRI, whose members do not vote in the election.

In March, the 1,000-seat People's Consultative Assembly will convene to elect a new president to serve until 2003. President Soeharto is widely tipped to be elected for a sixth term.

Feisal, who chairs the national internal security agency, stressed that repressive measures would be taken on a selective basis and that ABRI would prioritize dialogs.

"The measures will be taken against people who insist on serving their political interests against others" he said.

He said although democracy was needed it should not be pursued in an anarchistic way because it would be counterproductive.

"ABRI will never put the nation's stability and integrity on the line by tolerating concepts and actions whose appropriateness is untested in Indonesia," he said.

The three day leadership meeting that ended today discussed the Moslem-based party's preparation and strategy for the election.

In a bid to win public sympathy the usually conservative party has been highly critical of the election campaign's rules that it says benefits Golkar.

Leaders of several Central Java PPP branches have threatened to boycott the election unless the government changes the rules.

ABRI, which is the dominant player in Indonesian politics, has repeatedly reaffirmed its support for Golkar. ABRI founded Golkar in 1964 to counter the Indonesian Communist Party's growing influence.

Feisal said ABRI was often put in difficult positions and had become an easy target for criticism as far as politics was concerned.

"ABRI is always to blame for all state problems. We are always wrong in the eyes of government critics," he said.

When ABRI takes stern action against troublemakers it is accused of violating human rights and hampering democratization, he said.

"But when we are taking a persuasive approach people say we are putting the nation's integrity in danger," he said.

Feisal also said ABRI wanted to submit the internal security bill to the House of Representatives for deliberation.

ABRI expects the bill, if enacted, to give it wider powers to handle security disturbances.

Attending the leadership meeting were PPP chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum, his deputy Aisyah Aminy, secretary-general Tosari Widjaja and chairmen of PPP's chapters and branches nationwide. (imn/amd)