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