'Four forces' seen vying for power

'Four forces' seen vying for power

JAKARTA (JP): The influential Foundation of the Indonesian
Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) said on Wednesday there were four
social forces involved in the political power struggle, including
the remnants of Soeharto's New Order regime.

YLBHI chairman Bambang Widjojanto, at the 28th anniversary
celebration of the foundation, identified those who sought to
revive Soeharto's influence in society as "restorationists". He
said this was evident in the fact that so far the law could not
reach the former president.

"This is evident in how strong the former president's
political position still is... (and how) the law is unable to
touch him, and how there are still certain groups who give him
offerings in exchange for his blessing and 'power'," Bambang
said.

The other three groups that he mentioned were the status quo,
the reformists and the "ambiguous" group.

The status quo were those interested in supporting and
maintaining current President B.J. Habibie in power. "The support
is not meant to build a legitimacy for Habibie per se ...but
often because the supporters believe they can obtain their
maximal political agenda and interests under Habibie."

Bambang identified the foundation as part of the third force,
the reformists, who were dissatisfied with current conditions and
continued to campaign for a new, democratic Indonesia.

"The fourth force is the 'ambiguous', who... want reform but
because of certain social and political positions, cannot free
themselves from political constraints and so choose to stay
within power (status quo)," he said.

The mysterious murder spree in East Java towns and the
practice of blaming communists for various social and political
problems, he said, should be put in the frame of the four forces'
struggle for power.

"Politics here has yet to be free from laying blame, it is
still a savage one... (as evident) in practices of slandering,
slaughtering or scapegoating. These are the faces of our
political configuration."

Since its establishment on Oct. 28, 1970, YLBHI has sided with
needy people in facing the law. Cases it has handled have tended
to be politically high profile, including the July 27, 1996
bloody takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI)
headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta.

Among prominent figures who attended the Wednesday ceremony
were Adnan Buyung Nasution, H.C. Princen, Moh. Assegaf, Ali
Sadikin, Mudji Sutrisno, Sri Bintang Pamungkas, Munir, Hotma
Siahaan and Ruhut Sitompul. (edt)