'New leftist' fears questioned by legislators

'New leftist' fears questioned by legislators

JAKARTA (JP): The military's fresh warning on the dangers of a
"new leftist" movement was greeted yesterday with skepticism by
many people, including two prominent legislators.

The warning came on Sunday from Maj. Gen. Syarwan Hamid, the
assistant to the Armed Forces' Chief of Socio-Political Affairs,
who said that the "new leftist" movement was even more dangerous
than communism itself because it aims to overthrow the legal
government but has no concept of a state of its own.

Syarwan, during a speech in Bandung, did not mention the names
of who these "new leftist" people, but he categorized them as
"anti-establishment".

Yesterday, legislators A.A. Oka Mahendra of Golkar and Aisyah
Amini of the United Development Party questioned Syarwan's
concept of the "new leftists", and feared that by including anti-
establishment people, the military could stretch the argument to
include all critics of the government.

Oka said that while he agrees that anti-establishment
movements can endanger stability, officials should make it clear
what they meant by "new leftists" in Indonesia.

"It would be unfair to brand people who have different
opinions from the government as 'leftist' and 'anti-
establishment'" he told The Jakarta Post.

Pro-democracy, environmental and human rights groups in
Indonesia all have noble causes, which are to improve the
nation's record in their respective fields, Oka said, and added
it is natural for these groups to criticize the government, as
long as they do it in a fair and responsible fashion.

"That there are people who oppose the government is something
that you must accept," Aisyah once said on a separate occasion.

"The main thing is how they convey their opposition to the
government. If they use illegitimate means, then they are out of
place," she said. "So far, in my limited knowledge, I haven't
seen any such movement."

Mulyana W. Kusumah of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation said
the term "leftist", which was first coined to refer to one that
sought radical changes in culture and political systems in the
West in the 1970s, is alien to contemporary Indonesia.

Even the student revolts in 1974 and 1978 were not inspired by
the leftist movement of the West at that time. Rather, they were
fueled by political and social ills here, Mulyana said.

"Pro-democracy, environmental and human rights activism in
Indonesia aims to seek reformation, not revolution," he told The
Jakarta Post.

Mulyana said Syarwan's target was obscure, but speculated that
it was probably meant to serve as a warning to the public to be
careful about government critics.

Arief Budiman, one of the most ardent critics of the
government, said Syarwan's warning was another attempt by the
military to silence the government's critics, and was something
which he would not take seriously. "I'll just laugh it off," he
said.

Arief defended the "new left" movement, saying that it has
brought fresh ideas on how to make society more just and fair.

The Harvard-trained sociologist said the "new left" was far
more complex than what Syarwan tried to paint, and it is this
lack of understanding that has made people in the military
despise the concept.

He also pointed out that the current New Order administration
was born out of an anti-establishment movement in 1966 involving
students, the people and the military itself.

Arief said that criticism from outside the establishment
should be respected because it is often more objective.
(pan/imn/har/mds)