ABRI's homework

ABRI's homework

The Armed Forces (ABRI) seems to need time to consolidate
itself before it carries out thorough investigations into the
three dramatic national tragedies which occurred recently. These
are the shootings of the Trisakti University students, the
disappearances of political activists and widespread riots which
were marked by looting, arson and rape. All took place during
former president Soeharto's regime and many people believe that
service personnel were involved in organizing all of them.

While the authorities still have to establish the truth around
these cases, one thing is sure: they have not only tarnished our
image in the eyes of other nations but provoked questions about
the government's sincerity and capability to solve them.

President B. J. Habibie, who since the beginning of his
presidency has believed that the solution of the problems is
something on which the credibility of his government depends,
ordered the ABRI leadership to investigate all three cases.

The good news that followed was that as the military arrested
suspects in the Trisakti shootings and started to process them
before a military tribunal many people were optimistic that the
military would be able to uncover the truth fairly and promptly.

But pessimism returned as the slow progress of the kidnaping
case gave the impression that some people remain untouchable by
the law. The picture was complicated even further by a report
from the United States saying that the Pentagon had suspended its
Combined Exchange and Training program for members of the
Indonesian Army after the Americans found it was responsible for
the activists' disappearances. The story was printed by
Washington Post and was widely quoted by international news
agencies.

Meanwhile back home, the National Commission on Human Rights
has heard about the gruesome rape of innocent women and girls
which accompanied the looting and arson in Jakarta on May 13 and
May 14. It has also emerged that the bloody riots were clearly
organized -- they occurred abruptly in many nooks and crannies of
the capital city and caught almost everyone by surprise.

The Armed Forces put the death toll from the mayhem at 499 in
Greater Jakarta alone but the commission's findings said that at
least 1,118 people were killed.

To shed some light on this dark page of our history, Habibie
has asked Indonesians to exercise the virtue of patience and let
ABRI conclude its internal consolidation. Although the President
did not explain the meaning of the phrase, what we should do is
remind him that the failure of ABRI to uncover the truth will
push him further away from obtaining the credibility he badly
needs.

But the more tragic thing is that the failure to solve the
three cases will also worsen our economic and political
situation.

All Indonesians will watch how far ABRI will be sincere and
courageous in solving the cases because it is no easy task. We
believe the ABRI leadership will face a lot of difficulties in
its mission. The government should set up a completely
independent national committee, comprising ABRI, the National
Commission on Human Rights and non-governmental organizations, to
investigate the cases.

However, to a certain extent, we do not need to blame any
party because we have inherited all these problems from Soeharto,
who is in the same frame of mind as Louis XVI, the French monarch
who is well known for saying Apres mois, le deluge (After me,
disaster).