Fewer seats in House will not affect ABRI role
Fewer seats in House will not affect ABRI role
JAKARTA (JP): A reduced number of seats in the House of Representatives will have no affect on the strong political role of the Armed Forces (ABRI), a senior cabinet minister said yesterday.
Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman said that the planned reduction in ABRI seats, from 100 to 75, would have no effect on its role as the "stabilizer" in Indonesian politics.
"As far as the House seats are concerned, it is the quality (of ABRI representatives in the House), rather than quantity, that counts," he told reporters after meeting with ministers and officials under his coordination.
He said the government had carefully considered all the possible consequences before it decided to reduce ABRI's seats in the legislative body.
"The state ideology Pancasila has been well accepted, the nation is stable and democracy is flourishing," Soesilo said.
In attendance at the monthly meeting were Minister of Defense and Security Edi Sudradjat, ABRI Commander Gen. Feisal Tanjung, Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman, State Secretary Moerdiono, General Attorney Singgih and Chief of the National Intelligence Agency Soedibyo.
One hundred of the 500 seats in the House of Representatives are currently reserved for the Armed Forces, whose representatives do not take part in elections. The remaining 400 are contested by the three permitted political organizations: the United Development Party, Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party.
Moerdiono said earlier this week that the government was currently working on a bill to cut the number of ABRI seats in the legislative body to 75.
He reiterated yesterday that the idea of reducing the number of ABRI members in the House was not new.
"People think this is a new issue, but in fact it is not. If you look back to the President's speech on Aug. 15, 1992, the idea was already mentioned," he said yesterday.
Soesilo refused to comment on the question whether the proposed reduction meant that ABRI was phasing itself out of representation in the House.
"The reduction to 75 members has not even begun and already you ask whether the representation will be completely eliminated," he said.
Demonstration
Responding to questions on the fate of legislator Sri Bintang Pamungkas, Soesilo said the police were currently collecting more evidence to back-up the military's allegation that Bintang was involved in a recent demonstration against the Indonesian government in Germany.
Bintang, a legislator from the United Development Party, has been under police investigation for his alleged involvement in an anti-Indonesian government demonstration in Dresden during President Soeharto's visit there earlier this month.
Soesilo said police who were scheduled to leave for Germany to collect more evidence and witnesses regarding the demonstration had not been granted visas by the German Embassy in Jakarta. "Perhaps because of technical and administrative reasons," he said.
He was optimistic that the Indonesian police would obtain their visas in the near future.
A diplomatic source at the German Embassy told The Jakarta Post that Germany would be conducting investigations of its own in connection with the demonstrations.
"We have laws on demonstrations and we can sue the authorities who failed to give President Soeharto the best security," the source said.
Soesilo asked the press not to exaggerate Bintang's case and "not to turn the facts around, and shape public opinion".
"He was there at the time of President Soeharto's visit. This is something we have to question. Then, he did not report to our embassy there. He is an educated man, a public figure, surely he must know better than that. Of course, he said he was invited to speak at a seminar there. But anyone can say that," he said.
Representatives of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), which is representing Bintang, asked protesters outside its office on Wednesday to respect the presumption of innocence. One of the participants in Wednesday's demonstration carried a placard which read "Hang Bintang!"
YLBHI spokesman Hendardi said on Wednesday that Bintang's "trial by the press" and "trial by the public" had been initiated by the government, who was the first to accuse Bintang of being involved in the demonstrations. (pwn)