Observers want NGOs, ulemas involved in alert centers
Observers want NGOs, ulemas involved in alert centers
SEMARANG (JP): Religious leaders, academics and non-
governmental organizations (NGOs) should be involved in the
activities of the proposed "alert command centers", observers
said yesterday.
Muladi, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights,
and political scholar Susilo Utomo of Diponegoro University said
the alert command post proposal was worth supporting.
Political, social and legal experts and religious leaders
should be involved so as not to mislead the public into thinking
the institution was exclusively run by the government.
The establishment of alert centers was ordered by President
Soeharto in the wake of the religious and racism-sparked riots in
East Java, West Java and West Kalimantan late last year.
Countless observers and government officials believe
socioeconomic disparity was the root cause of the unrest.
The centers will receive all kinds of reports from the people
concerning potential unrest. No specific establishment date was
mentioned.
The project, Muladi said, should not create a false impression
in the outside world that Indonesia was on the brink of
disintegration.
He hoped the proposed alert command post would become the
"lowest rung" of the Agency for the Coordination of Support for
the Development of National Stability.
"If it's possible, the command centers could carry out the
agency's field operations," said Muladi, also rector of
Diponegoro University.
Muladi said forming the unrest command post was relevant to
Indonesia's post-Cold War era development as countries in eastern
Europe have fragmented into small independent nations.
"Therefore the command centers could be critical in
safeguarding Indonesia's unity. At present, many people want to
see Indonesia break up ," he said.
Muladi said a secondary function of the command centers should
be to inform the public about the sort of rumors that could grow
and trigger unrest.
Once the centers are set up, there should be no rumors along
the lines of the recent ones about "operation green dragon" and
"operation red dragon". Operations reportedly set up by the
military to topple leaders of organizations critical of the
government.
Unconfirmed reports say operation green dragon was designed to
dethrone Abdurrahman Wahid, chairman of the 30-million-strong
Nahdlatul Ulama. Operation red dragon was reportedly behind the
fall of Megawati Soekarnoputri, chairperson of the Indonesian
Democratic Party.
Susilo Utomo proposed that NGOs and ulemas be involved in the
proposed alert centers' activities.
"The public tend to trust information from NGOs and ulemas
more from the government," he said. "NGOs are becoming a popular
place for the oppressed to air their grievances." (har/pan)