Military resort commands revamped

Military resort commands revamped

JAKARTA (JP): Acting on the Armed Forces' (ABRI) pledge for a
structural reorganization of its sociopolitical division, one of
the city's two military resort commands on Tuesday disbanded all
of its sociopolitical units and staff.

Under the reorganization scheme, the command and its three
suboffices -- the East Jakarta, South Jakarta and Bekasi military
district offices -- will be no longer allowed, for instance, to
take part in the development of any political parties or
monitoring of people's political activities.

A ceremony held to mark the disbanding at Wijayakarta military
resort command headquarters in East Jakarta was led by Col.
George Toisutta and attended by some 80 staff members.

Another military resort command that oversees military
district offices in West Jakarta is soon to follow suit.

In his speech, George said ABRI had to adjust to "future
challenges".

"ABRI must be able to listen to other parties' arguments, who
air people's aspirations, instead of forcing ABRI's will on
them," the 45-year-old commander said.

"ABRI must also dare to admit to its past mistakes," George
said without elaborating.

Three military district chiefs reported to George, saying that
their respective offices had started the reorganization process
in February and had finalized it on Sunday.

George, however, did not disclose the number of local
sociopolitical staff members who had been moved to other
divisions.

According to him, the disbanding process was a follow-up of
the new paradigm concept launched by ABRI Commander Gen. Wiranto
last August.

On Aug. 21 last year, Wiranto pledged that ABRI would take a
backseat in the country's political affairs and work to support a
civilian leadership.

However, he said that ABRI still had a role to play in
ensuring the safety of the nation and its development programs.

Wiranto's statement came amid revelations which damaged the
Armed Force's image. An investigation, for example, revealed that
the Army's Special Force (Kopassus) was responsible for the
abduction of nine political activists.

After toppling Soeharto in May last year, protesting students
also intensified their demands that ABRI drop its sociopolitical
role. (01)