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