Hate, fear or jealousy?

Hate, fear or jealousy?

In the last few months the Armed Forces' (ABRI) role has come
under attack from many sides, such as from students, political
parties, organizations and so on. It seems that ABRI can do no
good anymore and it often becomes the scapegoat for all kinds of
incidents. What is the underlying factor of this attitude?

Of course ABRI has made mistakes, politically speaking, and so
has earned the criticism of certain quarters of the Indonesian
community, and the casus belli is of course ABRI's dual function.

Let us take a closer look at what is called the dual function.
In short, it is the sociopolitical role played by the Armed
Forces besides its basic function as a fighting force. This role
has very strong roots in Indonesian history.

The late Gen. Soedirman, godfather of the Indonesian National
Army (TNI) said: "TNI is born because of the Aug. 17, 1945
proclamation, lives with the proclamation and vows to defend the
sacredness of the proclamation. The only thing the Republic owned
which is still whole and intact and has not changed, in spite of
all challenges and changes, is the TNI."

Gen. TB Simatupang, former Armed Forces chief of staff said:
"It can be said that our TNI generation has a twin or dual
personality. On one side they are military people but on the
other side they consider themselves as national fighters."

Gen. AH Nasution, a prominent military thinker expressed: "The
position of the TNI is not only as a tool of the civilians like
in Western countries and also not as a military regime which
holds the power of the country, but the TNI is a social force, a
force of the people working shoulder to shoulder with other
people's forces."

But the political parties are not too happy with the
situation, because they see this as a challenge to their
political life and existence. Even in the beginning the late
president Sukarno, a seasoned politician, was not very happy with
this condition. In his state address in August 1953, Bung Karno
said: "The Oct. 17 affair occurred because ABRI wants to play
politics. This is what will happen when ABRI participates in
politics, while in fact ABRI should not be allowed to participate
in politics. ABRI is a tool of the power of the State, an armed
tool, a tool and once again only a tool. Participation in
politics will create a rift." (Just to refresh your memory, the
Oct. 17 affair was when the Armed Forces took artillery to the
palace and demanded the dissolution of the House of
Representatives). But Bung Karno, as an experienced political and
very clever in assessing the political pulse of the nation,
changed his position 180 degrees.

In front of the People's Consultative Assembly on April 22,
1957 he stated clearly the opposite. He said: "It is only fair
and more logical, more rational and a must when representatives
of functional groups (armed forces is included in this political
category) are placed in all government bodies, where we can find
also representatives of political parties, because functional
groups are a tool of democracy. ABRI has shown its merits in the
past and we still need it in the future. In is only fair that it
gets a place in the coming House of People's Representatives, so
that in the future it can participate in deciding the course of
the state and in the creation of a just and prosperous society."

Unfortunately, ABRI has made many mistakes that cannot be
denied. These mistakes have been cleverly manipulated by the
community to blacken ABRI's image. It is accused of violating
human rights and also of incapability in maintaining law and
order. There is no fair judgment anymore.

So I think that the underlying factor of the sentiments
against ABRI at this moment is not really hate but fear on the
part of the political parties that their role be curtailed. They
make good use of the simmering situation and through
demonstrations and all kinds of efforts they manage to create
anti ABRI sentiments.

SOEGIH ARTO

Jakarta