After reshuffle, Armed Forces lose best speakers in House

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.