PPP criticizes ABRI coordination meeting with Golkar
JAKARTA (JP): The United Development Party (PPP) questioned the Armed Forces' (ABRI)'s commitment to reform yesterday after it allegedly hosted a coordination meeting with the dominant political group Golkar on Saturday, Antara reported.
"That meeting is diametrical to ABRIs own concept of reform which says that it stands above all the political parties," PPP Secretary General Tosari Wijaya said.
The PPP's Executive Board regretted and strongly objected to the meeting held at ABRI's Cilangkap headquarters in East Jakarta, he told the media after the party's national conference.
ABRI has failed to maintain its self-proclaimed equal distance from all the political parties in the country, he said.
No one from the Armed Forces was available yesterday to confirm that the alleged meeting took place, or to respond to the PPPs criticism.
ABRI, along with the country's bureaucracy, have always been regarded as members of Golkar's Big Family. Senior military figures frequently used to take part in important Golkar policy meetings.
Since Soeharto's resignation from the presidency last month, ABRI leaders have maintained that the Armed Forces would no longer support Golkar in future general elections.
Tosari, reading from the PPPs political manifesto, also demanded that the National Police be separated from ABRI and called for the replacement of the term "Armed Forces of the Republic Indonesia" (ABRI) with "War Forces of the Republic of Indonesia" (APRI).
Tosari said Article 10 of the 1945 Constitution stated that the war forces comprised the Army, the Navy and the Air Force.
As a consequence, the National Police should not be regarded as part of the war forces, but as a law enforcement agency with a duty to ensure public security and order, he said.
The PPP also demanded that the government lift the Military Operation Region status from Aceh and Irian Jaya, alleging that the classification had led to abuses of power and human rights violations.
The national conference discussed how PPP should proceed in view of the changing political situation since B.J. Habibie succeeded Soeharto as the country's leader last month.
The new President has promised to revamp the political laws which regulate political parties and elections, and has stated his intention to hold a general election around May 1999.
In view of the upcoming election, PPP plans to bring forward its congress to elect new leaders to December this year at the latest, party sources said yesterday.
PPP's political statement also called on the government to free civil servants from the burden of having to support and vote for Golkar, saying that this requirement ran counter to efforts to create a more professional bureaucracy.
PPP also joined the chorus demanding that controversial cases from the past be reopened and parties suspected of having a part in these atrocities brought to court.
It cited the massacre in Jakarta's Tanjung Priok district in 1984 and similar incidents which took place in Lampung and Aceh in the past decade. In each of these incidents civilians were killed in clashes with the Armed Forces.
The government considers these cases closed although no military officers have ever been made to answer for the incidents before a court of law.
PPP called for the release of political prisoners who were the victims of slanderous plots. It cited in particular those jailed for their part in the Jihad Command and the Usroh Group, both Islamic groups blamed for terrorist actions in the 1980s.
PPP is also asking the government to investigate who masterminded the May 13-14 riots, the kidnapping of political activists and various other violent acts and disappearances. (emb)