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.