Armed Forces warns against 'adventurers'

Armed Forces warns against 'adventurers'

SEMARANG (JP): A top military official has warned against
"political adventurers" in the 1997 general elections, outlining
the risks he feels these people pose.

Assistant to Armed Forces (ABRI) chief for social and
political affairs Maj. Gen. Soewarno Adiwijoyo defined political
adventurers as people who have no loyalty toward any of the
existing political grouping, and tend to abstain from voting.

"Students and youths should not become political adventurers
out of frustration that things are not the way they want them to
be," he said in a discussion on the general elections at
Diponegoro University here yesterday.

Representing ABRI Chief of Social-Political Affairs Lt. Gen.
Syarwan Hamid, Soewarno said that the elections would bring
Indonesia closer to the ideals of independence in 1945, if they
go off successfully.

A botched general election, however, will cost Indonesia a
high price, politically, socially and economically, he said.

He went on to describe a number of conditions which might
threaten the polls. He also called on the young not to be trapped
into thinking that any opposition to the government's stance is
democratic.

"Don't think that everything that is in line with the
government's stance is therefore utterly devoid of idealism," he
said.

On a separate occasion yesterday, in Bandung, West Java,
hundreds of students of Pasundan University held a demonstration
on their campus.

Waving placards and unfurling banners, the students called on
he government to abolish the laws on political activities, and to
impose a limitation on presidential terms.

In a separate development, another top military official spoke
out, giving his view on the general elections and the role of the
Armed Forces.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Hartono said in Surabaya, East Java,
yesterday that members of the Armed Forces should have the
political right to vote and to be chosen.

"ABRI members are just like other citizens. They have a right
to vote and be elected in the general elections," he said in a
discussion held by the East Java chapter of the Indonesian
Journalists Association.

"The list of people who are denied voting rights has been
decided on; those involved in the attempted coup in 1965, who are
therefore not - or not yet - allowed by the government to vote,
and convicted criminals" he pointed out.

Reiterating a previous statement, he said that ABRI members
will clearly channel their political aspirations through the
ruling Golkar.

"You don't need to ask about the political aspirations of ABRI
members. You know already," he told the reporters who questioned
the ABRI stance on general elections and its sociopolitical
function.

Hartono created a controversy at a Golkar rally in Central
Java last month by saying that all military members are Golkar
supporters, or cadres. The public had been led to believe that it
was a neutral force.

He said that the military's socio-political and security roles
are guaranteed by the 1945 Constitution, law No. 20/1982 on the
State Defense and Security, as well as law No. 1/1985 on General
Elections. (har/15/17/imn/swe)