Be fair for once
Although I am a 'red-and-white' citizen inside-out, I still think that we cannot close our eyes to our own mistakes, negligence and indecisiveness. This is important for our own efforts in improving our performance.
The attack on the USA by our Minister of Defense, in which he stated that the U.S. arms embargo is to blame for the Sampit strife is not completely fair (The Jakarta Post, March 27, Page 1). In my opinion, even without this embargo, the ethnic strife in Sampit would still have occurred. I admit that perhaps the slow resolution of this strife might have been caused partially by the embargo, but there are other factors contributing to this.
We should not forget that the U.S. arms embargo was hailed by young Indonesians who blindly hate the military, as expressed by Mr. Munir of The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) in June 2000, and supported by other NGOs. They even wrote a letter to Senator Mitch McConnel, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Sony Callahan of the House Appropriations Committee, to stop cooperation with the Indonesian Military.
So our Minister of Defense should also blame those young people, who supported the stopping of military cooperation between the USA and the military, until democratic life in Indonesia is established. But when will this be if the young people themselves resort to demonstrating every time there is some difference of opinion, followed by undemocratic, destructive actions. Democracy teaches us to be tolerant, honor the law and maintain ethnics in our attempt to achieve these ideals. Neglecting the law and casting aside ethics is the same as suicide, said Prof. Dr. Ryaas Rasyid.
Another thing our Minister should consider as a stumbling block in solving separatist and ethnic problems is the lack of courage and the indecisive attitude of our present government in making decisions.
After years of rebellion (a commander of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) proclaimed proudly that he started the rebellion in 1976) and only after the commander of the Army Strategic Command gave a tough statement, our government declared the GAM a separatist movement that should be dealt with resolutely. But again so far we only have heard a statement and a plan described as a "limited military operation", the meaning of which is still a mystery, while the government is still unsure what to do. The only clarification given is that this limited military operation is directed only to armed civilians and the GAM rebels and not to the population in general.
This is a rather painful statement for the military to make, as though the military when conducting military operations also makes civilians its target. Even now this limited operation might be canceled by the government, because it has been rejected by the Aceh community and even the governor is very sure that it will be canceled (Suara Karya, March 27).
Politicians are not very happy when the military stay strong but in their heart of hearts they are also afraid if the military crumbles and become a useless and weak organization. The military has again and again expressed its decision to quit the practical arena and concentrate on becoming a professional military organization. But this honest statement fell on deaf ears.
I am of the opinion that we should also recognize our own mistakes and shortcomings, rather than blame others. When we had the PRRI/PERMESTA rebellions we were facing a hostile USA, which openly supported the rebels. But we had a government that knew what to do, stuck to its decisions and could finish the rebellion with its own limited materiel.
This should be a valuable lesson for our government to make up its mind and for once stick to it and not try to find a scapegoat for our own shortcomings.
SOEGIH ARTO
Jakarta