ABRI's fate under review

ABRI's fate under review

My questions here are solely based on an article written by Wahyudi M. Pratopo, which appeared in The Jakarta Post's Sunday issue, Feb. 26, 1995. If the article written is not accurate, then my questions based on that are not accurate either.

Mr. Marbun of the Indonesian Democratic Party said that the Armed Forces' (ABRI) participation is guaranteed in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and because of that ABRI should give up all the seats in House of Representatives (DPR). He said 100 ABRI members in the House is over representation, since the number of ABRI is less than one million.

1. Who guaranteed ABRI seats in MPR? If ABRI's seats in the House can be changed then the seats in MPR can also be changed. Moreover, the tasks of MPR and the House are different. The MPR is not going to discuss the state budget or tax laws or any other laws, which is a very important political indication of the state's strategy.

2. Why did Mr. Marbun agree when the decision was made that ABRI should have 100 members in the House? Why did Mr. Marbun at that time not point out that there are less than one million ABRI members, against 180 million common people?

I wonder also about the statement made by the honorable Mr. Yusuf Syakir of the United Development Party who stated that whether ABRI has 50 or 100 seats, it has the same effectiveness. My questions are:

1. If this is true, then why do political parties "fight" to have more and more seats in the House?

2. Why should the vacated seats be given to political parties to increase their seats, while the number of seats has no influence on effectiveness?

The bombshell is the opinion of Mr. Riswandi Imawan, a staff lecturer of Gadjah Mada University. He proposes that ABRI be given veto rights on issues concerning national stability and unity. I was perplexed at this proposal. This is clearly the beginning of dictatorship of a minority (60 members against 440 members). If I am not mistaken this veto does not exist in the Pancasila democracy of Indonesia. It always has been musyawarah untuk mufakat (consultations for achieving unanimous agreement). My questions:

1. What is national stability and unity? If you so wish, any topic can be considered to fall under the heading national stability or national unity. In this way any topic can be used or misused for that purpose. And then ABRI jumps in with their right of veto.

2. How does he come to the number of 60 seats for ABRI?

As a retired member of ABRI I am proud and extremely happy reading the statement made by ABRI's Chief of Social and Political Affairs Maj. Gen. Moch Ma'ruf, saying that the military is prepared to accept a cut in the number of seats in the House if it is in the interest of the nation's progress. This shows the wise and mature attitude of ABRI. Aminullah Ibrahim, member of the House from ABRI said: "If that is what the people want then it is okay."

The slogan "ABRI serves the people" proves to be not a hollow slogan after all. Members of ABRI cannot spend their whole lives as politicians because they have military duties to perform. And yet their attitude shows political wisdom far beyond expectation. ABRI holds high the name of a stabilizing and dynamic force.

SOEGIH ARTO

Jakarta