Calls for replacement of current government continue

JAKARTA (JP): Pressures are mounting on the government, with fresh calls for people in the strife-torn provinces of Aceh and Irian Jaya to join hands with other provinces in a nationwide scheme to replace the current administration.

Political scientist Andi Alfian Mallarangeng said here on Friday that the incumbent government was responsible for ongoing violence and injustice in the two provinces.

"To my brothers and sisters in Aceh and Irian Jaya, this stupid central government is our enemy, so please do not divorce us. Let us change this stupid government...let us divorce the central government," he said in a two-day seminar on Indonesia Next, organized by the firm, Van Zorge Heffernan Political Economic Consultancy.

Andi, a member of a team of experts who are formulating the law on regional autonomy, expressed his belief that people in the two provinces were still strongly committed to remain united with Indonesia.

"The ruling government has just pursued militaristic measures, as taken by previous governments, in responding to regional resistance," he said.

Andi said Indonesia might disappear if the ongoing disintegration process could not be stopped.

"Indonesia could disappear from the world map if the government continues to carry out the same foolish practices of the past. We must stop these idiotic policies," he said.

He pointed out that only a new government would be capable of ending the nation's instability.

Andi also criticized Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto for defending the oppressive acts taken by the Indonesian Military (TNI) in cracking down on separatist movements, saying that political problems should be resolved by political means, not military ones.

"Problems in Aceh and Irian are political and not military," said Andi.

In his address to the seminar, Prabowo, former chief of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), admitted that military operations in crushing separatist movements were often excessive, but defended the military claiming it had been assigned to maintain the country's unity.

Prabowo said the duty of the military is to safeguard the existence of the state and therefore it often has to take harsh action to achieve its objectives.

"This is not a dilemma for the Indonesian military, but also for the military of other countries," said Prabowo, who spoke in a session along with East Timor leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao.

Meanwhile, former state minister of human rights Hasballah M. Saad noted that the government had just given empty promises to people in Aceh and Irian.

"The situation in these areas is worsening," the former minister said, citing that only very few of the 7,000 cases of human rights abuse in Aceh would be settled by the government.

"Similar conditions can also be found in Irian Jaya," he added.

Willy Mandowen, a rights activist from Irian Jaya, blasted the government for its failure to end exploitation of the natural resource-rich province.

Political scientist Dewi Fortuna Anwar, however, disputed Willy's claim that the United Nations-led integration of Irian Jaya into Indonesia was illegal because the public had not been fairly involved in the legal process.

"As a historian, I must tell you the historical facts," said Dewi. (prb)