Spotlight on ABRI's roles

Spotlight on ABRI's roles

JAKARTA (JP): Armed Forces (ABRI) Chief Gen. Wiranto warned on
Tuesday that certain parties have been exploiting the issue of
the military's sociopolitical role to gain popularity.

Wiranto told Antara that ABRI's decision to scale down its
political role should not be stretched to cutting its role to the
bare minimum.

"Many people have condemned ABRI without giving it a chance to
thoroughly explain the various problems in hand. Very often,
these people have turned the ABRI issue into a political
commodity simply to gain popularity," he was quoted as saying by
the news agency.

ABRI's "dual function" doctrine -- in defense and in politics
-- became the chief topic of discussions in the corridors of the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) building where a Special
Session got underway on Tuesday.

Public pressure has mounted, especially from university
students, for the MPR to end ABRI's political role and to limit
its tasks purely to defense and security affairs.

Of the five MPR factions, however, only the United Development
Party (PPP) has openly called for such a ruling.

On Monday, Gen. Wiranto announced the abolition of the
powerful post of the sociopolitical chief in ABRI. He also said
that any officer working in non-military positions from now on
should resign from active service first.

ABRI supported the civil society goal and would reduce its
political role in a "proportional" manner, Wiranto said on
Tuesday.

He said critics of ABRI's political role often claimed that
they were speaking on behalf of the people. "What people do they
represent? I have received many statements from people saying
that they supported ABRI's sociopolitical role," he said.

He contested critics' claims that ABRI's presence in the House
of Representatives (DPR) ran counter to the 1945 Constitution,
pointing out that Article 19 stated that the DPR's composition
should be regulated by law.

ABRI, which currently has 75 seats in DPR, has proven to be a
very democratic force, he said. "Everyone knows that our
representatives have often held different opinions in a rational
and critical way. Without naming names, the ABRI faction has also
had its share of vocal representatives."

Although the PPP faction has welcomed ABRI's gesture of
eliminating the sociopolitical chief post from its leadership, it
called for more evidence of the military ending its political
role.

PPP would press for the Special Session to rule an end to that
political role, Secretary General Tosari Wijaya told reporters.

A delegation of students from the "Forum Salemba" met with
Golkar MPR representatives on Tuesday to further press their
demand for an end to this political role, which it considered an
unwarranted privilege for the military.

Delegation spokesman Ari Wibowo said it was grossly unfair
that political parties must gather more than 400,000 votes to win
a single House seat in an election, while ABRI's 500,000 strong
members automatically get 55 seats.

ABRI's political role had also come at the expense of its
professionalism, he said.

"ABRI has been so preoccupied with civic jobs, even running
lucrative businesses, that it has lost its combat skills.
Banyuwangi clearly demonstrates this," he said, referring to the
military's failure to end the killing spree in the East Java
regency.

Golkar leaders defended ABRI's presence in the lower house,
but agreed that the number of its representatives was negotiable.

"Golkar feels that ideally ABRI should retain 25 seats, or 5
percent of the House's total," Akbar said, pointing out that a
bill now being debated in the DPR proposed cutting ABRI seats to
55.

Marzuki Darusman, Golkar faction chairman at the MPR, said
ABRI's presence in the lower house would have to be reduced
gradually and eliminated altogether eventually. He gave no time
frame.

Salim Said, a military expert and MPR member for the Golkar
faction, warned that it would be "dangerous" to eliminate ABRI
seats in DPR without the agreement of the military itself.

Leading ABRI representatives in the MPR said that while the
military would try to defend its presence in the House, it would
go along with whatever was decided by the Assembly.

"ABRI's dual function is up to the MPR. ABRI will not defend
it at all costs because it was the people who asked ABRI to be
represented in the House in the first place," Achmad Rustandi,
chairman of the ABRI faction in the MPR, said.

Army Chief Gen. Subagyo Hadisiswoyo said in a media conference
ABRI would try to defend its seats in the House for security and
unity reasons. (rms/amd/imn/prb)