ABRI should give up political role: Indria

ABRI should give up political role: Indria

JAKARTA (JP): Military observer Indria Samego argued against
the Armed Forces' (ABRI) role in politics on Thursday, saying its
involvement would not help democratization.

"ABRI's main task is to defend the country and the state
ideology and not to deal with public and political affairs. If an
active serviceman wants to play a role in politics, he must take
his uniform off and compete with other civilians," he told The
Jakarta Post.

Indria, also a senior researcher at the Indonesian Institute
of Sciences (LIPI), said that seen from an historical point of
view, ABRI should be allowed to continue with its dual function
of defending the country and the state ideology.

"It must be acknowledged that ABRI played an important role in
defending newly independent Indonesia from the Dutch colonial
government in the 1940s and 1950s. But it can claim the dual
function as its right only as long as it is aimed at defending
the state ideology and if it does not interfere in public and
political affairs," he said.

He said, however, that during the 32 years of the New Order,
the dual function was "manipulated" through the assignment of
active servicemen in strategic positions in the administration
and legislative bodies.

"This policy, which is still being implemented even now, must
be corrected," he said, citing that the dual function had been
understood as being similar to kekaryaan (assignment) in
nonmilitary circles.

He said ABRI should no longer be given strategic positions in
the administration and in the legislature, arguing the posts
should instead be reserved for civilians.

"How can democracy grow here if all the strategic positions in
the administration and the legislature are given to ABRI?"

He said members of the military could play a role in politics
provided they let go of their military positions and compete with
civilians for positions in the administration, or joined existing
political parties to be elected to the House of Representatives
or the provincial and local legislative councils.

The only opportunity for the military to play a role in
politics should be for it to vie for seats in the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR) through the Regional Representatives
faction, he said.

Indra said that criticism and protests against ABRI's dual
function have mounted over the last three months because the
public perceived that it had been wrongly applied in the past as
evident in the reports of rampant human rights abuses in Aceh,
East Timor and Irian Jaya.

ABRI has repeatedly said that it would redefine and
reactualize the dual function concept, the philosophy behind its
involvement in both defense and politics, claiming that its
application would be adjusted to fit current conditions and
future demands.

Pinantun Hutasoit, a legislator of the dominant Golkar
faction, has said that despite the wrongdoings of certain
soldiers in the past, ABRI should continue with its political
role to maintain national unity.

"For example, ABRI has a proven good performance in channeling
the people's aspirations into the legislative body," he said.

He said, however, that ABRI should be neutral and stand above
all parties in society.

Senior political figure Roeslan Abdul Gani insisted that the
dual function need no longer be debated provided that both the
military and civilians remain mindful of their own positions and
authority.

Intelligence

Leading human rights campaigner Marzuki Darusman echoed on
Thursday the calls for ABRI to scrap its dual function.

Marzuki, the deputy chairman of the National Commission on
Human Rights, however, said that the process of phasing out the
role would at least need five years.

"We can't do it overnight," he told a discussion on human
rights held by the Indonesian Council on World Affairs (ICWA).

ICWA was launched by Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas
and then minister of tourism, post and telecommunication Joop Ave
last December.

The organization is an off-shoot of Dharma Caraka, a
discussion group set up by a number of retired Indonesian
ambassadors.

Also present on Thursday were former envoy to the United
States Arifin Siregar and senior diplomats Hasjim Djalal and Nana
Sutresna.

Marzuki also argued that ABRI's representation in the
legislature was still needed to start "the whole process of a
systematic disengagement of ABRI from politics".

He said ABRI must "return" the government's three basic
functions, which he said had been usurped by ABRI over the past
30 years.

He identified the functions as the territorial role, or the
preservation of the country's integrity; sociopolitical role,
which is to lead political processes in certain directions; and
intelligence operations, a role in which ABRI has been very
prominent.

"It is our past experience that intelligence operations have
impinged very strongly and adversely on politics," Marzuki added.
(rms/byg)