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