ABRI promises to get tough on troublemakers

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)