Calls mount for ABRI to review dual role concept

JAKARTA (JP): Calls have mounted for the Armed Forces to abolish its dual-function concept, which has enabled it to play a major role in politics as well as in security, and to develop greater professionalism in its ranks.

Political observers Arbi Sanit and Muhammad A.S. Hikam and military analyst Maj. Gen. (ret) Naryadi suggested in a discussion on Wednesday that the Armed Forces (ABRI) prioritize the issue in its short-term strategic planning.

"It's high time for ABRI to abolish its sociopolitical role. Nowadays, it's only in Indonesia that soldiers play an active role in politics," said Arbi, a political lecturer at the University of Indonesia's School of Social and Political Sciences.

Addressing a seminar on the relationship between the military and society, he said the abolition of the doctrine would improve ABRI's image, both locally and internationally.

"ABRI's sociopolitical role has silenced democratization here," he said.

"The abolition of the concept will make ABRI a more respected element of the nation," he added.

He said the decades-long implementation of the dual-function concept, or dwifungsi as it is known locally, has made ABRI "forget" its main role of security and defense.

"ABRI has developed itself into the country's second largest business community after the Chinese-Indonesians.

"About 70 percent of the Indonesian network of cooperatives is controlled by chains of ABRI's cooperatives," he quoted data generated by a Yogyakarta-based institution.

Hikam said it had become an internationally accepted practice for armed forces to get out of sociopolitical affairs.

"The United States Army abolished its sociopolitical role in the early 1980s," he cited an example.

Hikam, a researcher at the National Institute of Sciences, said the dual-role concept was not an absolute and lifelong doctrine.

"The Armed Forces' dual-role concept is open for review and evaluation," he said.

He, however, suggested that the abolition take place gradually, in a commensurate manner with the nation's political developments.

Naryadi, an instructor at the National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas), called on the Armed Forces to positively respond to the demand for an end to its dual-role concept.

"The Armed Forces Headquarters should immediately respond to such calls and conduct a serious study into the concept," said Naryadi, who was also at the seminar.

Separately, former cabinet minister Sarwono Kusumaatmadja suggested that ABRI first regain its public credibility before it take on the task of studying the dual function.

"ABRI does not hold the monopoly to evaluate its dual function. It is an affair of the whole nation," Sarwono told a media conference on Wednesday.

Sarwono, now an activist in the Movement for Indonesian Justice and Unity (GKPB), said any discourses evaluating the concept now would not be effective.

"There will be no end to such discourses since both ABRI and the public would want to have the last word," he said.

Separately, a group of 150 youths and student activists staged a demonstration along Jl. Diponegoro and Jl. Imam Bonjol in Central Jakarta on Wednesday demanding the abolition of ABRI's dual function.

"Abolish the Armed Forces' dual function. It's been the source of political problems in the country," yelled one activist.

The group, consisting of activists from the Democratic People's Party (PRD) and the Group of Supporters for ousted Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) leader Megawati Soekarnoputri (KPM), started a rally at the office of the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI).

They planned to move the demonstration to the front of the Armed Forces headquarters on Jl. Merdeka Barat in Central Jakarta, but failed to get through a blockade of a hundred riot policemen. (imn)