ABRI waging war with its tarnished image

ABRI waging war with its tarnished image

JAKARTA (JP): The Armed Forces is striving to improve its
badly stained image, which some high-ranking military officials
have blamed on the press.

Chief of ABRI's territorial affairs Lt. Gen. Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono warned the press against encouraging negative public
opinion and what he referred to as a misperception that the Armed
Forces (ABRI) were divided into factions, and that certain
factions were behind recent riots, staged in an attempt to create
chaos across the country.

"I must reiterate that ABRI is not divided... It remains a
solid organization and it is conducting internal consolidation to
repair its tarnished image," Bambang said at a hasty gathering
with journalists here on Tuesday.

He regretted what he described as a tendency among certain
media proponents to publish sensationalist reports on violence
and riots to discredit the military.

"It is true that ABRI is responsible for security and defense
and national stability, but it should not be asked to take
responsibility for all past and present (events)," he said.

The lieutenant general called on the public and the press to
be "wise, fair and objective", and to give the military a chance
to repair its tarnished image, developed during its poor
performance under former president Soeharto's 32-year
authoritarian government.

"It must be acknowledged that ABRI's poor image in the past
had many things to do with its dominant role in politics at that
time," Bambang said.

"Give us more time and opportunities to carry out gradual
reform to revamp (ABRI) and the dual function in defense and
politics," he said, referring to ABRI's widely criticized
political power, which critics say has led to many rights abuses.

He insisted that ABRI was in fact reconsidering its dual
function (dwi fungsi), with greater emphasis on its tasks in
defense and security.

Reiterating the Armed Forces' earlier announced policy,
Bambang said ABRI would also reduce its role in politics,
including barring its active members from taking strategic
positions in the legislative body and administration.

The National Commission on Human Rights, in its assessment on
the country's 1998 human rights record, has attributed the poor
rights protection and the backlog of unresolved rights violations
to ABRI's perceived inability to act and its sorry public image.

It cited as examples: the shooting of Trisakti University
students in May, the mid-May riots in the capital and other
towns, the mysterious murder spree of around 200 ulema
in East Java, and rampant rights abuses by troops during military
operations in Aceh, East Timor and Irian Jaya.

It noted that unless the violations, some involving security
personnel, were handled properly, public frustration could boil
over into more violence.

Army Chief Gen. Subagyo Hadisiswoyo on Wednesday also
criticized the press, which he said has often published
information that is unbalanced and out of proportion.

"Such reports have frequently placed the Armed Forces and the
Army... in an unfavorable position," he said in his written
address, read by Army Lt. Col. Djoko Agus, spokesman for the
Brawijaya Military Command overseeing East Java, in a ceremony
marking the 48th anniversary of the Army's information service in
Surabaya.

According to Subagyo, the unfavorable situation might be
overcome if information services within the Army could establish
cooperative ties with various parties, including the press.

He added that various rumors have been spread widely by
"certain parties" who wished to see the nation disintegrate, and
that such rumors have also found their way into the Army.

"In the face of such a situation, I call on all members of the
Army information service to collect all information available in
their area, digest and process it properly, and finally present
it to the community as reliable information," he added.

Asked in Jakarta about measures taken by ABRI against troops
involved in the torture of Acehnese detainees in Lhokseumawe,
Subagyo said Tuesday, "No one is immune to the law."

He said the Armed Forces would indiscriminately punish all its
members found guilty of violating the law, and all troops
involved in the incident would be processed in accordance with
military law.

ABRI Commander Gen. Wiranto condemned the beatings of
detainees, saying that both troops and civilians involved in the
separate incidents would be punished.

In a recent meeting with religious and traditional Acehnese
figures here, ABRI agreed to the deployment of a "religious-
cultural approach," instead of stressing a security approach, in
handling the separatist movement in the province. (rms)