MARI unconnected with riots

MARI unconnected with riots

This refers to Armed Forces Commander General Feisal Tanjung's
statement as quoted in Kompas of Feb. 22 that Indonesian People's
Alliance Council (MARI) was not unconnected with the recent riots
in its activities. He said, "The activities of these groups were
linked to the recent riots. They certainly used the riots to
distort the facts. This kind of activity was part of the efforts
to form the community's opinion on the weaknesses of the New
Order government. They tenaciously demand a change in five laws
in politics without taking into account the actual situation in
the community's life."

Courtesy of this newspaper, may I give the following testimony
and explanation:

1. I, in the capacity of representative of the People's
Sovereignty Purification Forum (FPKR) chaired by Prof. Dr. Deliar
Noor, am a member of the MARI Council for Guidance, testify it is
not true that MARI was involved or connected with the riots as
charged by General Feisal Tanjung. MARI was established on July
1, 1996 only and its last meeting was on July 25. It just managed
to man the board, to discuss the work mechanism and the work
program. There were still debates on the status of the council.
On July 27 I heard about the riot started by the Soerjadi group
who invaded the headquarters of the PDI (Indonesian Democratic
Party) Megawati board at 58, Jl. Diponegoro. It was beyond MARI's
knowledge. If there was an organization or NGO that acted on
behalf of MARI, it was outside MARI's responsibility. To my
knowledge MARI never discussed a work program which was
anarchical in nature.

2. On the demand for a change of the implementation of the
five political laws, it envisages to enforce Pancasila in word
and deed. It takes into account the real situation in our
community which still strongly follows the culture of feudalism
and nepotism which weakens the mentality of the nation on the way
of development, which yields unproductive and uncompetitive human
resources in all fields mainly in the economy. An evaluation of
30 years of the New Order government shows that the
implementation of the five political laws is ineffective in
developing and educating Indonesians into persons imbued with a
competitive spirit. It even strengthens the feudal culture with
its upward orientation instead of being future oriented. If this
continues, it will reduce the nation's quality of life. It will
not enhance the development of the younger generation.

For example, the 1985 regulation on political parties and the
functional group Golkar. The regulation shows that Golkar is not
a political organization, but Golkar has participated in six
general elections. It means, it has become a political
organization. For the 1997 general election the matter needs to
be clarified by modifying the regulation of the political parties
and Golkar into a new law on political parties for their legality
in the 1997 general election. An organization that is not a
political organization is not allowed to participate in the
general election. We must start with disciplining ourselves not
to make regulations which are confusing. What about the Armed
Forces' (ABRI) functional group? Although ABRI saw to the birth
of Golkar, it is not true that ABRI should be there. Ideas may be
contributed by ABRI for the nation, but ABRI should stay outside
socio-political organizations, to step up their military
professionalism. If ABRI desire to safeguard the state's
political life, it is sufficient for them to supervise, maintain
stability; to develop and educate civil organizations to enable
them to compete soundly and independently under a management that
has been implemented in ABRI circles. Thus, military forces and
professional civil forces work in their respective fields but are
mutually complementary.

Initiative must be taken for efficiency's sake. It is only
proper that efficiency is joined to healthy thinking if we intend
to make progress. Efficiency is the development of management,
character and mentality of human resources, because a nation
cannot be gauged by figures of statistics, population, work
obtained or revenues. A nation must be judged by the quality of
its people. If it does not yield great men, what is the use of
rich resources, production tools and capital?

R.A. BERAR FATHIA

Bekasi, West Java