Foreign scholars urge ABRI to quit politics

JAKARTA (JP): The powerful Armed Forces (ABRI) must relinquish its political role if it wants to help democracy develop in the country, according to a foreign political scientist.

Daniel S. Lev, a professor of political science at the University of Washington in Seattle, said yesterday this was the most historical moment for Indonesia as within these two years people would decide whether democracy or the military should triumph.

"Through the next general election and the general session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the people will decide on the appropriate political system in Indonesia and on the fate of the (ABRI) dual function," he said in a panel discussion on ABRI organized by the Association of Indonesian Television Journalists here.

He said there would not be total reform in Indonesia if ABRI clung on to its current role in politics.

"Dual function" is the doctrine that enables ABRI to have both a security and political role. The concept has been widely criticized because it has led to pervasive interference in many spheres of people's lives.

"History has shown ABRI's failure to maintain its dual role in politics and defense ... It has for around 40 years become 'a strong political party' because it possesses guns (while dabbling in politics)," he said.

He said the implementation of the dual function had caused great losses to the people, to the government and to ABRI itself and "this proves that ABRI's dual role has failed".

He called on the Indonesian people to make an honest and fair evaluation of the dual function by considering what has transpired over its 40-year existence.

Over the past 40 years, ABRI has also been used by the first two governments as a political tool to maintain the status quo.

"You can imagine how many people have been killed by ABRI in its operations to support the governments' policies," he said.

R. William Liddle, a professor of political science at Ohio State University in the United States, concurred and said that people now had a golden opportunity to create a democratic government following the more than -30 years of military government.

He said that Indonesia was now between "fact" (that the 30- year military regime has ended with the resignation of former president Soeharto in May) and "possibility" (of ABRI's return to power).

He said that despite the government's commitment to democracy, it was not transparent whether ABRI agreed with total reform or not.

"ABRI's unclear stance was seen when it did nothing to force Soeharto to step down as demanded by the reform movement," he said.

He hailed President B.J. Habibie's commitment to hold an MPR special session and a democratic general election in his efforts to let the people create a democratic government.

"As a weak president, Habibie has made an appropriate policy to uphold democracy and to implement the IMF-sponsored reform package and his term of office is expected to be accepted until the MPR general session in 1999," he said.

Another speaker, Amien Rais, chairman of Muhammadiyah Moslem organization, said the dual function should be maintained but ABRI should phase out its involvement in politics in an effort to create a civil society.

He said it was difficult not to involve ABRI in politics because it was born amid the national struggle for the country's independence.

He said ABRI could reduce its role in politics by not allowing its active members to hold political positions.

House Deputy Speaker Let. Gen. Hari Sabarno claimed that ABRI was committed to reform and democracy. He said democracy was nothing new for ABRI.

He said that ABRI was reviewing its dual function and would reduce its role in politics.

Reluctance

In yet another political discussion, Liddle and Harold Crouch of the Australian National University said that despite its many pro-reform statements made over the past months, there was still "reluctance" within ABRI to push for total reform.

They believed the problem rested with the institution's desire to retain power.

Citing his conversation with "a member of the circle around" ABRI Commander Gen. Wiranto, Crouch said he had been told not to think that all military officers were interested in reform.

"Look, you must realize that not all ABRI officers think the way that I think," he quoted the unnamed officer as saying in a discussion organized by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies yesterday.

"The majority of officers are more interested in their careers and that sort of thing... still hoping to be appointed governors, ministers, regents, directors of big enterprises, ambassadors and things like that," Crouch said he was told.

He said the desire for such appointments was contradictory to ABRI's recent statement that it would seek only to become a backseat driver in politics, a move which many believed was a show of willingness by ABRI to reduce its sociopolitical role.

"(But) certainly ABRI is very much on the defensive at the present. Now one of the problems... is that ABRI is not the only political actor now," Crouch said.

Liddle concurred and identified a likely coalition of Golkar Chairman Akbar Tandjung, President B.J. Habibie and Gen. Wiranto to ensure Golkar's victory in the next year's general election.

"It's Wiranto's strategy, too, that Golkar should win," he said. He argued Wiranto would lose his position if Habibie failed to be elected president at the end of next year and Golkar also lost the election. (aan/rms)