After reshuffle, Armed Forces lose best speakers in House

By Pandaya

JAKARTA (JP): The powerful Armed Forces (ABRI) lost its best speakers, Maj. Gen. Raja Kami Sembiring Meliala and Maj. Gen. Samsudin, when it withdrew 18 of its 100 appointees at the House of Representatives yesterday.

The two men have played a major role in not only improving the image of the House, which has been besmirched as a rubber stamp institution, but also in proving that ABRI, too, can become a democratic force.

They were among a handful army officers in the House who championed a more open political climate.

Together with Brig. Gen. Rukmini Koesoemoastoeti Soedjono and Maj. Gen. Syaiful Sulun, both removed in 1992, ABRI had an outspoken quartet who pioneered the democratization process from their seats in the House.

From the first days of their service in 1987, they barraged government officials with embarrassing questions on subjects ranging from the eviction of the poor to make way for development projects and the lack of service given by the bureaucracy to tax payers.

The legislators will be remembered as army officers who dared to express opinions which were not always in line with ABRI's official views.

Sembiring, a former Cendrawasih Military commander overseeing security in Maluku and Irian Jaya, was a voice for the poor displaced from their homes to make way for development projects.

His dismissal from the legislative body comes six months after he made critical remarks about the appointment of the first civilian, Harmoko, to the top spot of the government's Golkar political grouping.

Soeharto's choice of Harmoko was widely interpreted as a sign that the guard is changing in Indonesian politics and that more civilians will follow the Information Minister into areas once considered the provenance of the military.

Sembiring's reaction was a swift defense of ABRI's central role, saying that no one could become president without a military background.

As for Samsudin, he was transferred from his post as chairman of House Commission II overseeing domestic political affairs to commission VII on banking and industry, where his voice is rarely heard.

Roekmini, who retired from active service in ABRI, is more popular among seminar attendants, where she is almost always a star speaker. And she has remained ABRI's faithful salesperson, defending the military's dual function.

She is also a member of the National Commission on Human Rights, which came to life last year.

Syaiful Sulun has practically stepped out of the political arena, making no public appearances since losing his legislative seat in 1992.

He stung the bureaucracy and stunned the public when during a nationally televised interview he complained that press criticism should be directed more at the executive than the legislative body.

Observers believe his unforgivable sin was his daring move to talk with the Petisi 50, a loose organization of former government and military officials that is harshly critical of the government.

Dual function

The past two years have been difficult for the military, with their "dual function" in both security and politics coming under intense scrutiny.

As critics have increasingly questioned its relevance, government and military officials as well as political party leaders have been just as busy defending it.

They question the privilege because it is unclear who they represent.

"People criticize (the dual function) because they don't care to study the nation's struggle, especially the history of ABRI," President Soeharto said last August, two weeks before the incumbent House members were sworn in.

One hundred of the 500 seats in the House are reserved for the military in recognition of its role as the "stabilizing and dynamizing" force in the Indonesian politics forged by political leaders in the 1960s.

The remaining 400 seats are contested by the three sanctioned political organizations, the government-backed Golkar, the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and the United Development Party (PPP) through the general election.

The number of seats granted to the military has been at the center of debate. Outspoken politician Sri Bintang Pamungkas of the PPP has argued that while he agrees that ABRI deserves a place in the House, the number of seats should be reduced.