Rumors can be serious

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.