Contain social inequality, military says

Contain social inequality, military says

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Defense and Security Edi Sudradjat
said yesterday that social inequality should be contained to "a
tolerable limit" so that it does not cause unrest.

In a written speech delivered by the minister's secretary-
general Sugeng Subroto at a ceremony marking the end of an
Institute of National Resilience (Lemhannas) short course, Edi
Sudradjat said that it was impossible to eliminate social
inequality because people's abilities and opportunities differed.

"But we have to contain inequality to a tolerable limit. We
don't want to see inequality grow into unrest," the minister
said.

"Strong people should be more tolerant and avoid exclusivism,
while the feeble should control their emotions in order not to be
trapped by frustration which will only cause more trouble," he
said.

The Institute of National Resilience is a military think tank.

The Institute's vice governor Juwono Sudarsono seconded Edi's
statement. "As long as there is inequality, there will be
violence. Hungry people tend to be violent. Our task now is to
nourish the hungry people," said the former dean of the
University of Indonesia's School of Social and Political
Sciences.

Edi suggested the Institute's graduates use ethics and
morality as their guide to wade through the negative side-effects
of national development.

"Sometimes moral values are ignored in our progress. Morality
should be the mainstay of our development," he said.

Edi's statement also said the concept of "national stability"
should not be restricted to security. The country needs a type of
stability which accommodates change.

Change, however, should not take place in "the basic national
(political) system" because this would create chaos, he said.

Juwono agreed, saying changes could be made without
dismantling the whole system.

The short course was the sixth of its kind held by the
institute. Its participants were mostly high-ranking military
officers. Non-military participants were from government offices.

Awards for the best students at this year's course went to
Maj. Gen. A.M. Hendropriyono and Lutfi Ibrahim from the office of
the State Minister of Agrarian Affairs. Hendropriyono is the
chief of the Armed Forces (ABRI) Education and Training Center.
In 1994, he was the head of the Jakarta regional military
command. (06)