'Openness' must be seen in cultural context
'Openness' must be seen in cultural context
JAKARTA (JP): Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung asked the
powerful Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI) to
share the responsibility for safeguarding national unity.
"Ensuring national integration is the responsibility of all
citizens, including ICMI," the general said when addressing a
national workshop of the organization here on Saturday.
He called on ICMI and other organizations to promote
tolerance, solidarity and patriotism and warned that a religious-
based organization had the danger of becoming a disintegrative
factor.
Established in December 1990 with strong endorsement of
President Soeharto, ICMI is often criticized as sectarian
organization nurturing political interests of its members.
Opening the three-day workshop on Friday night, ICMI chairman
B.J. Habibie reiterated his denial of the allegation, saying that
the organization served the interest of the whole nation.
The three-day workshop attended by about 450 ICMI members from
across Indonesia and foreign branches tried to identify the
challenges, problems, alternatives and chances of the
development.
Feisal reminded all socio-political organizations in Indonesia
on the need to understand the blowing wind of political openness
in the local context.
He said that the openness should also be pursued in the
Indonesian way, such as avoiding criticizing people in public
because the manner would not be effective.
"We are not a barbarous nation which hurt the feelings of
others. We have our own ethics and way on how express our views,"
he said.
He said social organizations, including ICMI, should also
understand the openness in the context of political stability and
national integration.
"The nation which consists of numerous ethnic groups living in
thousands of islands across the country may disintegrate if
issues, such as democracy, are over-exploited," he warned.
He insisted ABRI and the government will be consistent about
their policy not to "sacrifice" the national development and
unity to serve the interests of those ever demanding for
democracy.
Illusion
Asked by a participant if it would be possible for ABRI
officers to join social organizations, Feisal was quick to answer
that ABRI members were not allowed to do so because they are
supposed to serve all groups.
"ABRI takes no side and will never meddle in the internal
problems of any organizations," he said.
Feisal said some people thought that political openness
Indonesia pursues was about the unlimited freedom of expression,
including criticizing people in public and anywhere they like.
"What a small educated part of our society often demand
something which is strange to our culture. They think that all
things can be spoken out. Of course this not right," he said.
Feisal pointed out that it would be an illusion to hope that
the openness that develops in Indonesia would be comparable to
that in the West.(rms)