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)