Rumors can be serious

The Indonesian Military's leadership seems to have taken enormous offense at the rumors circulating here and abroad about the possibility of the military staging a coup to unseat President Abdurrahman Wahid.

Dismissing the rumors as unfounded, Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Adm. Widodo A.S. told journalists here on Monday that history tells us that the Indonesian Military never stages coups. Widodo was visibly upset when he said the rumors were aimed at discrediting the military.

Although the admiral did not attach any names to the rumors, he was clearly reacting to a recent statement by United States Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke in which he warned TNI against attempting to seize power from the President.

It is apparent that the military commander overreacted to the seasoned diplomat's statement, although one should understand that he was only speaking as a dedicated military man. When his reaction is compared to that of Gus Dur, as the President is also known as, his statement clearly lacks understanding.

When the head of state played down Holbrooke's warning against a military putsch, saying the American ambassador was merely expressing his concern as a friend, Abdurrahman also expressed gratitude for the support of several foreign countries, including the United States and Japan, which had conveyed their concerns over the possibility of a coup in Indonesia.

Many reacted in the same cool fashion as the President did because they also believe that America's concern must have been based on recent statements by high-ranking Indonesia Military officers, who it appears are becoming increasingly impatient with the government. For example, TNI chief spokesman Maj. Gen. Sudrajat told Republika daily on Dec. 28 last year that Abdurrahman was no military supreme commander and he had no right whatsoever to interfere in TNI's internal affairs.

The statement shocked many people here because the 1945 Constitution clearly stipulates that the President of the Republic of Indonesia is the supreme commander of the Army, Navy and Air Force. But according to Sudrajat the term supreme commander was borrowed from the United States, and in Indonesia's case it only applies to instances of national defense.

Sudrajat also hinted in an interview with The Washington Post last month that the military might need to pressure the President into allowing an Army crackdown against the separatist movement in Aceh which has taken up arms against the central government.

The military wants the President to declare a state of emergency in the restive province to give it a free hand to crack down on the separatist movement. But the President has repeatedly tried to take the problem to the negotiating table to reach a peaceful solution to the case.

His policy is understandable to people who respect the virtue of wisdom. Since the military played a part in the strife in Aceh during its 10 years of military operations there, during which brutal human rights violations were committed, any new military involvement in the troubled region could only be catastrophic. Against the backdrop of its seriously declining public popularity, the military would be no solution to the Aceh crisis but rather a large part of the problem.

Any significant increase in the military's role would just lead to uncontrollable power which would be just too close to a military dictatorship and anathema to the nation's effort of building a civil society.