Amien Rais backs NU call for reform

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Moslem leader Amien Rais backed yesterday the recent call of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's largest Moslem organization, for the Armed Forces to support the people's and students' demands for reform.

"The NU stance was a clear signal," he said here yesterday.

Amien, who chairs Muhammadiyah -- which with 28 million followers constitutes the country's second largest Islamic organization -- said here that it was now time for the Armed Forces (ABRI) to prove that its loyalty was really toward the nation and the people.

Amien said the increasingly loud calls for reform were actually a test of ABRI's claim that it was the vanguard of the national interest. "ABRI is the backbone of the community. Now, the people are demanding the fulfillment of its promise that its loyalty is toward the nation and the people, not the administration."

He said that if ABRI found that the administration was reneging on its mandate, it should withdraw its support for the government. ABRI should then, together with the community, create a new, legitimate administration.

"The problem is, it now seems that ABRI has lost its sense of direction," he said, adding that in his view, ABRI's actions hinged only on the words of one individual, namely President Soeharto.

"It's not right if, as an institution, ABRI is run by one individual," he said. "It is now time that ABRI, as an institution, takes the right step (and chooses) whether to protect the interests of Soeharto and his family or to protect the interests of the nation.

"ABRI always says that what's best for ABRI is best for the people ... now the people are waiting (for ABRI) to make its choice," he said.

When asked whether ABRI would present a unified stance, Amien said that the "stance of ABRI will be decided by the common perception among the ABRI commander, Army chief of staff, chief of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command, commandant-general of the Army's special force, Armed Forces chief of sociopolitical affairs and Armed Forces chief of general affairs."

If the top brass are united, the regional military commanders would surely follow suit, he asserted.

When asked whether Muhammadiyah would also issue a formal statement in support of reform, Amien pointed out that he had always been voicing the organization's stance. He said he started speaking out about the need for reform in 1993.

Succession

"Muhammadiyah is of the stance that succession has to take place," he said, adding how his previous calls for "national dialogs" and "national repentance" were belittled by many. "Now people realize that we do need national dialogs, national repentance."

"Should a people's power movement take place, Muhammadiyah members, who number millions of people, would surely support it," said Amien, who is also a staff lecturer at Gadjah Mada University's School of Social and Political Sciences.

Another political observer, Mahfud M.D. of the Indonesian Islamic University, agreed that ABRI should come forward and respond to the growing calls for reform, especially those voiced by students in their demonstrations.

He believed there were officers in the Armed Forces who wanted to see reform too.

"Meeting students' demands for reform would not by any means endanger the nation. Some people think that by accommodating student demands the nation will plunge into chaos.

"It doesn't have to be that way. Let people assert themselves in a peaceful and constitutional manner," he said. "If blocked, the campaign for reform might instead have to resort to unconstitutional means."

Amien pointed out that if all conventional avenues to further democratization were blocked, people would have to find "unconventional solutions."

"There's no other way but peaceful, nonviolent people's power for reform," he said, citing how both the government and the people, as represented by the students, were bent on maintaining their own stance and demands.

"The government is adamant that anything the People's Consultative Assembly has decided should not be reviewed, and Soeharto has to be given a chance until 2003 (when the current five-year term of office expires).

"Meanwhile, people (facing) insufferable suffering want to limit his term.

"If, within one semester, Soeharto fails to overcome the (economic) crisis, it'd be better if his mandate was revoked. If, within these six months, his performance improves, it's an indication he is able to handle the crisis ... if not, a people's power movement could take place," he said.

Right

Gen. (ret) Abdul Haris Nasution said it was students' right and duty to voice people's demands for reforms. Indonesia's most senior military figure told reporters in Jakarta yesterday that no one should try to hinder the students' actions.

He noted that some individuals or groups might be unhappy with the students' push for reform. He stressed, however, that students should not compare their actions today with those of their counterparts in the past.

"The substance of current students' aspirations is different from their seniors of the 1966 generation, who together with the Armed Forces fought against members of the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party," he said.

He said that today ABRI and the students had different interests.

"The students want reform, while ABRI wants them to stay inside their campuses and not to go onto the streets in order to voice their aspirations," he said. (swe/imn)