ABRI's role in the game

ABRI's role in the game

The question as to what position the Armed Forces should take in general elections is hotly debated every five years.

However, although the next general election is due next year, nobody raised the issue until last week, when Army Chief of Staff Gen. Hartono proclaimed in Central Java on Wednesday that all ABRI members are cadres of the ruling political grouping, Golkar. His statement provoked immediate outrage among some political observers. They believe the view tarnishes the image of ABRI as an impartial political force, and betrays the public's trust.

Hartono is the first Army chief of staff to ever make such a statement. The fact he is the first was confirmed by Gen. Rudini, who held Hartono's position between 1983 and 1986. The retired general, who as minister of home affairs was responsible for the development of national politics in President Soeharto's previous cabinet, was quoted as saying on Thursday that "there is no alternative to ABRI staying impartial". He said his view was shared by his predecessors.

Even though Hartono's view is grounded in the historical fact that Golkar was established by ABRI, it is still illogical. If the Armed Forces are "owned" by one political grouping, who will defend those Indonesians who pay their taxes to finance the Armed Forces, yet hold different political views?

ABRI's role in Golkar's foundation came in the early 1960s when patriotic Indonesians of all stripes were fighting to contain the growing influence of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). The Army's support for Golkar, which was welcomed by a clutch of anti-communist elements of various persuasions, was later shown to have been an effective strategy. But it should be viewed as a temporary strategy. The situation has changed. All political entities today have adopted Pancasila as their ideological basis and the PKI has long been buried.

If ABRI members were indeed cadres of a political constant, they would obviously be in opposition to members of other groups. This would make the general election a farcical soccer match in which the referee joins the game.

ABRI has nurtured Golkar long enough. If they must take a stand, they could help develop the other two political contestants, the United Development Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party. Both are national assets and part of the political infrastructure protected by the same law as Golkar, and thus deserve equal treatment.

This debate might drag on and on. Yet we need only look to the nation's constitution, the principle source of national law and midwife at the birth of the Armed Forces, to end it. The Indonesian military is the child of the 1945 revolution, and was set up by the fledgling Indonesian nation whose people wanted to take part in the defense of their newly-proclaimed independence. The Constitution gave every Indonesian, regardless of their political views, ethnic and religious background, equal rights.

The father of the Armed Forces, the late Gen. Sudirman, said it most succinctly during the revolution: "The military has no politics, its politics are the nation's politics."

This statement was memorably paraphrased by Armed Forces Commander Gen. L. B. Moerdani, before the 1987 general election; He stated that ABRI's duties in elections are as follows: to guard, to protect and to supervise.

Chief of the Udayana Military Command, Maj. Gen. Sahala Rajagukguk, whose jurisdiction covers Bali, East Nusa Tenggara and East Timor, declared afterwards that "ABRI is not the property of any political grouping. It will continue to take all Indonesians under its wings."

This attitude is sound; the military is only subordinate to the ruling political party in communist regimes, such as China, or the now-defunct Soviet Union, before its collapse.

Thus Hartono's statement doesn't just strike us as bizarre, but also as illogical, because ABRI was set up by the whole nation, not by a single political group. Its ties with Golkar were a historical necessity, but now the military should consider its primary obligation building a sound political system.

If ABRI supports only Golkar in the next general election, Indonesia will have failed in its effort to evolve a viable new political system, and will ultimately be left behind by its neighbors, who have been successful in both their economic and political development.

Stagnation in our political development will surely have a disastrous impact on our economic achievements to date.