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)