Low military morale behind clashes in regions: Megawati
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)