Clarification from Sudomo

Clarification from Sudomo

From Merdeka

I would like to focus on Supreme Advisory Council chairman Sudomo's comments in Merdeka (Oct. 6, 1995) on the relations between the Armed Forces (ABRI) and Golkar.

Clarity in history is of the utmost importance, especially for the generations to come. A clarification from the government will strengthen the veracity of the nation's history.

ABRI's sociopolitical assistant Maj. Gen. Syarwan Hamid recently said that ABRI could not be neutral toward the three sociopolitical organizations. ABRI supports Golkar due to the similarity in their history.

So, an explanation by a bureaucrat like Sudomo deserves to be appreciated and followed by other officials.

A second matter also deserves attention: "ABRI members who are still active are not allowed to vote in the general election. As a compensation ABRI is allotted 100 seats in the MPR (People's Consultative Assembly)."

However, Sudomo should further clarify for history's sake who is going to give the 100 seats, and, if the reason is because ABRI does not participate in the general election, maybe PPP and PDI will prefer not to participate in the general election and then demand 100 seats in the MPR too.

If such is the case, it means only 100 seats remain to be contested (by whom?). This would really take social justice for all Indonesians into consideration.

Clarification, please, for the record.

FADLI SOEROYO

Jakarta