No more compromises

One of the most contentious and divisive issues debated at the ongoing Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) is the future of the sociopolitical role of the Armed Forces (ABRI). Questions are being raised in various quarters on whether this role is defensible and relevant in a democratic Indonesia. More precisely, the debate focuses on the tradition of allocating seats in the House of Representatives (DPR) to ABRI members.

The military's sociopolitical role stems from the "dual function" doctrine, accorded legitimacy during the heyday of the New Order regime of Soeharto, himself a former Army general. Under this doctrine, ABRI was recognized not only as a defense and security force, but also as a sociopolitical one. Few people were willing to openly question ABRI's right to play politics.

Most accepted the argument that it was ABRI's historic entitlement in recognition of its services to the nation, from the independence struggle to maintenance of national security through many difficult times in Indonesia's history. The DPR seats were allocated in exchange for ABRI members waiving their right to vote in general elections.

With Soeharto out of the picture, it is only natural that the nation is now striving to dismantle the repressive political system that the autocratic ruler built. This includes calls to review ABRI's political role, seen by critics as part and parcel of the New Order regime. It is widely acknowledged, even by the current military leadership, that ABRI was used as a tool to prop up Soeharto for over three decades.

In an attempt to restore its tarnished image, ABRI has agreed to scale down its sociopolitical role. On Monday, ABRI Commander Gen. Wiranto announced that he was scrapping the strategic sociopolitical chief post in ABRI headquarters, and would require all ABRI personnel to retire from the service if they wished to serve in nonmilitary posts. ABRI has also agreed to reduce the number of its 75 representatives in the DPR, but has left it to the DPR, which is deliberating the new political bills, to determine the precise number. ABRI's latest position, as stated by Lt. Gen. Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the chief of its faction in the MPR, is that the military is now prepared to see a gradual elimination of its presence in the DPR.

While these are major concessions on ABRI's part, they are not enough. The strongest objection to ABRI's sociopolitical role is not solely based on the history of abuse of that role, but more by the fact that it is inconsistent with the principles of democracy. ABRI's presence defies the very definition of the DPR, literally "the council of people's representatives". With its 75 seats factored into the total population, ABRI's 450,000 personnel are grossly overrepresented in the House. Each of the other seats in the 500-strong legislature represents between 500,000 and 600,000 members of the population. If we apply the law of proportionality, ABRI should be entitled to one seat at the most.

This imbalance in political representation will be even more strongly felt as Indonesia moves to a multiparty political system, with more than 80 parties vying to contest the 1999 general election. In such a system, every seat will be fiercely contested.

Many of those who wanted to see a gradual elimination of ABRI seats in the DPR erroneously argued that it would be more dangerous to keep ABRI out of the political system than within. This line of argument not only denigrates ABRI's commitment to the nation, but underestimates the power of democracy, and of the concept of people's sovereignty, in preventing autocratic rules.

Given that it was the MPR which had given legitimacy to ABRI's dual-function in the first place, the current MPR Special Session would go a long way in helping shape democracy by coming up with a statement to withdraw that arrangement.

Politics may be the art of compromise, but democratic principles, such as the politics of representation, are nonnegotiable. We have compromised on democracy for far too long by allowing ABRI to dominate the political scene. Now is as good a time as ever to end the military sociopolitical role once and for all, and put our nation on the path toward real democracy.