Military looking for dignified way out of politics

The military is seeking a dignified way to exit politics, lecturer in politics Cornelis Lay of Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University says of recent developments. The following is an excerpt of the interview with The Jakarta Post:

Question: What about the eventual decision of President Abdurrahman Wahid to suspend Gen. Wiranto from the Cabinet?

Answer: The United Nations Human Rights Commission has reportedly named Wiranto as the person with a significant role in the devastation of East Timor following the (Aug. 30) ballot.

The foreign governments visited by the President recently may have implied a precondition that a settlement of the violations in East Timor should be done through removing Wiranto from the Cabinet, otherwise Indonesia would have difficulty in attracting investors and foreign aid.

Q: The President has said he will forgive Wiranto if he is found guilty...

A: I think Wiranto's legal status will nevertheless be determined by a fair trial, and at the same time the President will also use his power to grant him clemency. That would be the right way.

Q: If the trial of Wiranto and his colleagues takes place, would other cases of rights violations involving the military follow?

A: This seems inevitable, at least regarding cases which are strong enough in the collective memory. If we go further back, we could include the 1965 episode (mass murders, mainly of alleged communists, following a failed coup) -- although this would be more complicated than merely naming the military as the main actor.

Q: Why do you think high-ranking officers within the Indonesian Military (TNI) eventually gave their support to the President?

A: They may have known the content of the UN findings to the extent that they began to understand the background of Gus Dur's (Abdurrahman) stance regarding Wiranto.

The UN findings could have serious implications on TNI as an institution, so that they (TNI officers) should act to ease legal settlement within the country.

(So the support for Gus Dur) by some generals, including the Army chief of staff (Gen. Tyasno Sudarto), is aimed at saving TNI as an institution held responsible for human rights violations, by trying to separate Wiranto from TNI.

Q: The government-sanctioned Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Violations (KPP HAM) in East Timor has been accused of only working for the interests of certain groups. Do you agree?

A: It would be ridiculous to suggest that Wiranto was behind the protests aimed at KPP HAM and the National Commission on Human Rights.

Wiranto (as the then TNI commander) and Muladi (onetime minister of justice), along with president B.J. Habibie, were those who sponsored the formation of KPP HAM with an aim to evade international pressure on rights violations in East TImor.

KPP HAM's history is quite unique. It is one of the state's "corporatist" institutions formed through the National Commission on Human Rights, while the commission was set up based on a presidential decree (under president Soeharto). Both were beyond the control (of the state).

I think those who have protested both the commission and KPP HAM have no knowledge about the commission. It's ridiculous.

If KPP HAM focuses on East Timor (protesters have demanded similar treatment of violations in Maluku, for instance -- Ed), it's because East Timor has become the most critical issue in our international relations. How Indonesia tackles this will greatly determine our future in international fora.

Q: Military officers have voiced acknowledgement of civilian supremacy yet the public remains unresponsive to the shift toward civilian supremacy, as a recent survey by Gadjah Mada University indicated. How do you see this process?

A: Democratization does take time, it will continue among the military elite. Among civilians, militaristic attitudes are still a problem. Militarism within the civil society might not subside even though the military is already subordinate to civilians.

From the military, there is no longer the strong potential of a coup because there are hardly any generals with strong roots among their troops. This has occurred because of the fairly rapid tours of duty in military posts nowadays.

The struggle within the military now is not related to a coup, but how the military can exit gracefully from politics.

Q: How do you view the recent gathering in Yogyakarta of top officers at the tomb of the first TNI commander, Gen. Soedirman?

A: I think the officers' attendance here was an effort to seek a reason why the military should back out of politics.

They wouldn't want to give an image that they have "lost the battle" to civilian pressure. They need their own, a la military, reasons. So they are looking to Gen. Soedirman as their philosophical reference, that the TNI founder imbued loyalty to a civilian government.

I think this (reference to Soedirman) has the function of suppressing dissatisfaction within the military toward the process of civilian supremacy.

Remember that, for 32 years, several TNI generations have never been taught how the military should place itself within a democratic structure. (Asip A. Hasani)