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