Seeds of trouble still exist in regions: Soeharto
Seeds of trouble still exist in regions: Soeharto
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto urged the military yesterday
to coordinate efforts to defuse potential troubles in the region
with civilian administrators and local community leaders.
"Although at the national level we have made major progress,
at the local level there are still seeds of security disturbance
that require close cooperation between the local Armed Forces
(ABRI) commands, the civil administrations and community
leaders," Soeharto said in opening a seminar at the State Palace.
The seminar is looking at the functional relationship between
the ABRI command, the local government and public leaders, both
in times of peace and war. It is being held by the association of
alumni of the National Resilience Institute, an agency of the
Ministry of Defense and Security which organizes courses on
national defense.
Soeharto did not elaborate on which potential security
disturbances in the region he had in mind, but said that such
relations should take into account the conditions and character
of each region.
Local military commanders play a powerful if not pivotal role
in the affairs of the region they are posted to. Political
analysts said in many communities, people prefer to turn to local
military chiefs, rather than civil leaders, to help defuse
conflicts and problems.
Soeharto, himself a former Army officer, said local military
chiefs must take a backseat role and allow local administrators
and community leaders handle the sees of upheavals "without
lowering their guards or allowing security problems to arise."
He also warned ABRI, government and community leaders that
while they have a duty to defuse trouble before it erupts, they
must not kill people's initiative and creativity.
Soeharto said that a society which is in transition like
Indonesia's is always prone to upheavals rooted in economic,
sociocultural, politics and criminal problems.
Containing these upheavals cannot be done by any group of
leaders alone, he said, stressing the need for greater
integration in the way the three groups of leaders work.
He said the three groups must avoid misunderstanding or
tensions, especially in times of emergency and in handling
security disruptions. (emb)