Security issues are multi-faceted: Defense chief

Security issues are multi-faceted: Defense chief

JAKARTA (JP): The government has to exercise greater wisdom in
dealing with various security issues, such as labor disputes and
a soaring crime rate, tracing them to the source of the problems,
Minister of Defense and Security Edi Sudradjat said yesterday.

Edi told a hearing with the House of Representatives that
labor disputes and crime are two social problems that can pose
serious threats to national security, but the government should
deal with them in a more integrated manner and not treat them
simply as security issues.

The government has often been accused in the past of being
high handed in dealing with various issues, including labor
disputes.

Government critics have said that now is the time for an
alternative approach, as implementation of the "security
approach" often lead to fatalities. The death of four farmers in
Nipah, on the Madura Island, killed by troopers when angry
villagers protested against land evictions last year, illustrates
their argument.

Edi acknowledged that poor handling of various social,
political and economic problems very often developed into
security threats that called for the intervention of the security
apparatus.

He noted that the country's unemployment rate has continued to
increase because the economy is not growing fast enough to absorb
the swelling ranks of its workers. Unless the unemployment
problem is solved, it could pose a serious security threat to the
nation, he said during a hearing with the House's Commission I
which deals with security matters.

A high unemployment rate often results in a rising crime rate,
he said. He pointed out that unemployment has now reached around
four percent of the country's work force.

However, officials have acknowledged that as many as 30
percent of the 86 million person workforce are under-employed.

Other factors

Edi said other factors such as increasing abuses of liquor,
narcotics and sales of pornographic materials are other factors
which breed crime.

He said the police and the military have jointly launched a
massive operation to crack down at criminals but such a measure
would only partially solve the problem.

The main cause of crime, that is unemployment, "remains the
home work for all of us," he said.

He stressed that the government alone cannot solve these
problems of crime and unemployment. Society as a whole must
participate.

He used the workers riot in Medan, North Sumatra, last April
to illustrate his point of the need of society's involvement.

Deploying the "security approach" in dealing with labor
strikes and protests was ineffective because the problem really
lied in the poor relations between management and workers.

The government has defended the use "security approach" in the
face of its critics, stressing however that it is not the only
one used. (rms)