Army begins campaign to save the nation

Army begins campaign to save the nation

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Army launched on Tuesday a major
public awareness campaign with a moral appeal to the people to
save the nation, which it claims is on the brink of
disintegration.

The Army distributed posters depicting four children of
different ethnic backgrounds, with a caption that reads mau
dibawa kemana kami (where are you taking us?), and a sub-caption
selamatkan masa depan kami (save our future).

Army chief of staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto introduced the
campaign during a gathering with media leaders at the Army
headquarters in Jakarta on Tuesday.

"The life of this nation has been colored by social tensions
and conflicts at every level. Tensions among the political elite
have been followed by horizontal conflicts at the grassroots
level. This is undermining the prosperity of the nation and the
integrity of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia," the
Army said in a statement.

Children of different ethnic backgrounds were used in the
poster campaign because "they are the nation's future who are
still innocent and untainted from political interests," it said.

"The Army appeals to every component of the nation to return
to the spirit of reform, so that a democratic and prosperous
society can be achieved intact within the unitary state."

Since the reformation era, the Army has been stripped of most
of its responsibility and authority to oversee internal security,
now largely the job of the National Police.

As part of the reformation process, the military has also
retreated from the political arena which it dominated for more
than three decades until the downfall of strongman president
Soeharto in 1998.

"The Army feels it is dutibound to try to ease the social
tensions and conflicts ... by using persuasive means," it said.