Official says TNI at its lowest point

Official says TNI at its lowest point

YOGYAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Military (TNI) is now in worse
shape than at any point in its history, chairman of the Reform
Faction at the House of Representatives (DPR) Hatta Rajasa said.

"Never in its history has TNI been as fragile as it is now.
TNI must keep its strength. If it is weak everything will be
screwed up in the government," he said on Friday, referring to
the plan to bring Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and
Security Gen. Wiranto and other generals to court for alleged
rights violations in East Timor.

In the past two years TNI has been a target of criticism and
has been accused of being a political tool of Soeharto's
administration. Many have also rejected the military's dual
function which made it powerful in the Old Order era.

Hatta said that now the military had been "turned upside
down", and damned here and there. "The military's solidity and
consolidation is at the lowest level now."

However, he said, he was sure that there would not be a coup
attempt by the military. "A coup usually takes place where there
is an illegitimate government. We have a very legitimate
government."

"It's, therefore, quite wrong to worry that TNI will stage a
coup," he told The Jakarta Post.

Asked about President Abdurrahman Wahid's statement on the
secret meeting of some generals on Jl. Lautze, Jakarta, Hatta
said: "It's ridiculous for them to plot a coup. People will fight
them."

Jakarta-based Hatta is in Yogyakarta to chair the Organizing
Committee of the National Mandate Party's (PAN) first congress,
scheduled to be held from Feb. 10 to Feb. 13.

Hatta is currently being mentioned as the strongest candidate
for the National Mandate Party's next secretary-general.

Many have speculated that the President's repeated call for
the resignation of Wiranto is a sign of a rift between the two
officials and could lead to a coup.

Wiranto, who was former commander of the Indonesian Military,
was allegedly involved in the violence in East Timor following
the Aug. 30, 1999 ballot. A report by the government-sanctioned
Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Violations (KPP HAM) in
East Timor recommends that a formal investigation be held. It is
due to the investigation that Wiranto is required to resign
temporarily from the Cabinet.

Hatta said he supported the President, adding that it was the
President's prerogative to ask Wiranto to step down. "Wiranto's
resignation would easily help the legal process (against him)."

"His position as a coordinating minister, after all, could
hamper the legal procedure. The President made the call because
he did not want any bias occurring during the investigation," he
said.

That was why, he said, the commission's recommendation should
be taken only as an input. Similar treatment must also be given
to the reports made by TNI's Advocacy Team to make it balanced.
In this way the Attorney General's Office would be able to handle
the case in a proper and fair manner.

"As a consequence, we all have to respect its (the Attorney
General's Office) decision, whatever it is," he said.

In a related development, deputy chief of the Supreme Advisory
Council (DPA) Cholid Mawardi said also in Yogyakarta he hoped the
commission's recommendation was not a political move to eliminate
the five generals, including Wiranto, from the political stage.

The government should be able to differentiate between the
involvement of military personnel and the involvement of the
Indonesian Military as an institution in the East Timor mayhem.

"Don't make the human right investigation a means to blame TNI
over the rights violations in East Timor," he said.

Cholid was in Yogyakarta in his capacity as a member of the
council's political team, led by Mrs. Sulasikin Murpratomo.
(swa/44/sur)