ABRI should come clean

ABRI should come clean

From DR

In a Jakarta newspaper, Gen. (ret.) Rudini recently asked the
people to stop their aspersions against the Armed Forces (ABRI).
Just a day before Minister of Defense and Security/ABRI Commander
Gen. Wiranto also came to the defense of ABRI by saying "Do not
pass judgment on ABRI".

I think both generals' statements are based on an incorrect
premise. The people have no intention to malign, discredit or
pass judgment on ABRI. So far, what the people have demanded is a
noble attitude of ABRI, and their accountability as a
professional and moral institution.

As an institution, ABRI cannot have the excuse it merely
carried out its duties and cannot be blamed, as Rudini stated.
This is exactly where lies the problem of whether ABRI has met
professional requirements and ethics. The facts show ABRI has
been assessed as extremely "brutal" in ignoring its professional
principles and ethics.

Actually ABRI's noble attitude was shown by Gen. Wiranto who
voiced his apologies when the case of human rights violations in
Aceh became widely known. Apparently Rudini did not want to admit
mistakes readily.

As a former high-ranking officer, Rudini did not show an
educative attitude. He should fully support the noble attitude as
shown by Wiranto and Prabowo.

Rudini gives the impression that he would rather have ABRI
return to its initial basic attitude shown so far, i.e. a
fondness to find excuses behind well-worn reasons like "there was
an error in the procedure", "there was an analytical mistake",
etc.

Rudini's stance can be very well "understood" because when he
was a high-ranking officer -- among others he was the army chief
of staff -- the Tanjung Priok incident erupted. Likewise, when he
was interior minister, many human rights violations, such as in
Aceh, took place. Apparently Rudini is "afraid" to be sued for
those cases and so he made the statements which reflect a lack of
equanimity.

ABRI cannot cover up each "crime" of the past by apologies and
other statements. As professionals, ABRI must uphold moral and
professional ethics, by disclosing clearly those various
"crimes", enforcing the law, bringing the culprits and the
intellectual agents to court and helping the victims and their
families.

ABRI should act in that spirit and not wash its hands of the
past.

MOH. ABDUL KARIM

Jakarta