'Armed Forces should not stick to the past'

'Armed Forces should not stick to the past'

Recent reports on the socio-political roles of the Armed
Forces by the National Institute of Sciences (LIPI) have drawn a
wide response. Dewi Fortuna Anwar, senior researcher at the
institute and also at the Center for Information and Development
Studies, examines the background to these reports.

JAKARTA (JP): When President Soeharto requested the National
Institute of Sciences (LIPI), through its chairman, carry out
research on ways to improve the general election and the
sociopolitical role of the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) in
early 1995, many eyebrows were raised. Since this involved the
highest power in the land, as is usual in this country,
speculations regarding the meaning of these requests abounded.
Questions were asked about why the President felt it necessary to
commission the study, and whether the choice of LIPI, a national
research institute founded and funded by the state, was
significant.

Those who tend to look on the bright side regarded the
assignment as an indication of the government's, particularly the
President's, growing sensitivity to the increasingly vocal
criticism being leveled at the way general elections have been
conducted, which unabashedly favored Golkar, and at the dominant
sociopolitical role of the Armed Forces.

The choice of LIPI was regarded as only natural, since one of
the tasks of the institute is to conduct policy studies for the
government. Although LIPI is a government institution, meaning
its researchers are civil servants and members of Golkar, the
institute is generally perceived to be relatively independent and
neutral. The President's instruction to LIPI to study the general
election process and the sociopolitical role of the Armed Forces,
and to come up with suggestions for improvement, was seen by some
to be a genuine desire to find answers to a number of fundamental
questions that face the Indonesian state and society.

The more cynical observers, however, dismissed the President's
request to LIPI as nothing more than a formalistic response to
the growing demands for the reform of the general election
process and the reduction of the military's involvement in
politics. Given LIPI's status, many critics doubted the
institute's ability to carry out a thorough and an unbiased
study. In fact, quite a few were suspicious that LIPI's reports
could be used to legitimize the present order further and thus
deflect criticism of the government.

Given the importance of the issues being discussed, LIPI was
clearly confronted with a dilemma, resulting in sometimes heated
debate among its officials and researchers. It was quite clear
that the questions being asked were not mere academic exercises,
but could have far-reaching consequences, including for LIPI
itself. LIPI was caught between the desire to project itself as a
credible and professional research institution whose findings
could be relied upon by all parties, and the reality of it being
a state-funded institution. There were also heated debates about
what to do with the reports once they were completed. Were the
reports to be considered confidential for use of only the
President or should they be made public knowledge, since the
public was entitled to know and debate on the matters?

It was finally agreed that despite the potentially sensitive
issues being studied, LIPI could not afford to compromise its
integrity and its long-standing reputation. As the national
research institution, LIPI's responsibility is not only to the
government, but to the nation as a whole. Nonetheless, because
the first studies on general elections and the sociopolitical
role of the Armed Forces were commissioned by the President, the
reports were given only to the President through Minister/State
Secretary Moerdiono. These reports were submitted to the
President in early 1996. The public, including those who had
acted as resource persons, were not given copies of these
reports.

The researchers involved in both studies, however, felt that
the issues are too important to be left there. Further studies,
based on extensive fieldwork, were clearly needed and the
findings made public so they could be discussed and debated, and
contribute toward the country's political development.

Therefore, based on their own initiatives the researchers at
LIPI have taken the research projects beyond what the President
initially requested. The plan is to carry out these studies over
a number of years, covering as wide an area and as diverse a
sector as possible, so that one may obtain a more complete
picture and a deeper understanding of the real situation.

The report on ABRI that was released recently is the first
study to come out from this series, which will hopefully continue
to be funded by the government.

The first report on ABRI has generated a lot of interest, with
many observers agreeing with the findings and the recommendations
on the future of ABRI's sociopolitical role. There has also been
a lot of hostile reaction to and criticism of the report,
particularly from military ranks.

These debates and disagreements are clearly very healthy and
will help the researchers to improve their final report. The
report focuses on the ways ABRI's sociopolitical role has been
implemented and how people in various parts of Indonesia feel and
perceive the reality of such a role in their respective areas in
the past 30 years.

What the report makes clear is that historical justification
regarding ABRI's sociopolitical role is no longer sufficient.
Sticking to arguments about the past, and refusing to face the
problems of today, will clearly make it difficult for us to move
toward a better tomorrow.

It is hoped that LIPI's efforts will not be like a cry in the
wilderness, to be ignored and forgotten.

Political role -- Page 4