Low military morale behind clashes in regions: Megawati

JAKARTA (JP): Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri said on Monday the roots of sectarian clashes in the outlying provinces were not religious or ethnic differences, but the ongoing economic crisis and the low morale of security forces.

Speaking at the opening of a national dialog of religious leaders, Megawati said the low morale of soldiers might have been exploited by certain parties to create unrest.

"My intuition is that the root of all these conflicts is not religious or ethnic (differences), but the local situations, the economic crisis and the fact that the condition of the law enforcers and security forces is at its lowest level now," Megawati said.

"It is possible that the poor state of our security forces is seen by certain parties as the right moment to create trouble," she added.

Megawati also said local informal leaders seemed to be less effective than before in mediating the conflicts. Therefore, she called on local administrations to institutionalize the role of informal leaders in finding solutions to conflicts.

"At the local level, we should revitalize and institutionalize the local leadership," she said. "The biggest challenge for them is to start up efforts toward reconciliation between those who have been bitterly divided."

The government has been under pressure to end violent Muslim- Christians clashes in Maluku which have left thousands of people dead since they first erupted in January last year.

President Abdurrahman Wahid tasked Megawati late last year with drawing up plans to end the violence, but so far she has failed to come up with any concrete action.

On Monday, Megawati told the people not be under the illusion that the conflicts in the regions could be ended soon.

In Maumere, East Nusa Tenggara, last weekend, former defense minister Juwono Sudarsono repeated his earlier statement that soldiers were overstretched.

In a paper read by one of his deputies, Juwono told a seminar on national defense the country's vast territory was a major factor limiting the effectiveness of security forces.

Juwono said earlier there had been attempts to overstretch the police and military forces, and to undermine the credibility of the government.

He said supporters of former president Soeharto had been fomenting unrest to escape justice and destabilize the government of President Abdurrahman Wahid.

Juwono was among the first government officials to state the ongoing violence and political trouble in the country were organized.

In late 1998, shortly after several students were shot dead by security personnel during an antigovernment protest in the Semanggi area of Central Jakarta, Juwono said there were "rogue element within the military" who were interested in further discrediting the government. (byg/prb/yac)