Stop condemning ABRI: Wiranto

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces (ABRI) Commander Gen. Wiranto on Monday again pleaded for an end to the barrage of public condemnation against alleged military abuses of human rights in the past.

While admitting that rights violations had indeed occurred over the decades, Wiranto argued they had been committed by "several ABRI individuals" rather than by ABRI as an organization.

"It seems, however, that those personal wrongdoings had been blown up in news reports which tended to be sensationalized, as if they had originated from ABRI's policies," he said in a hearing with the House of Representatives Commission I for political and security affairs.

Rights abuses he referred to included atrocities found to have taken place in Aceh over the past nine years since 1989, and incidents in Irian Jaya and East Timor. He also touched on the Tanjung Priok incident in North Jakarta 14 years ago.

Under the shower of criticism by politicians and demands by the public that past atrocities be reinvestigated, Wiranto conceded that ABRI felt it was being "discredited and cornered".

"If this goes on and on, it's not impossible that it could disrupt the administration of the state and the government," he warned without elaborating.

Wiranto also called on the public not to judge "out of context" the Armed Forces' past military operations, which had been blamed for many casualties.

"ABRI's military actions did not just come up out of the blue, but there had been some preconditions in which the state's existence was at stake and so (ABRI) was assigned by the government to take measures," he said.

Wiranto said "the whole political system of the past" -- which the House and many ministers were part of -- should be blamed if society was to be "proportional" in its judgment about past mistakes.

"So, judging past incidents with the current paradigm (of the reform era) is just not right. We'll tend to blame one another while forgetting to work for the future," he said.

"It would also be unfair and unwise," the four-star general added.

Responding to questions on ABRI's dual-function, the Armed Forces' policy allowing it to become involved in politics, Wiranto said the military "has and would continue to adjust" its socio-political roles.

He also said that "ABRI is hopeful of and certainly will take part" in the country's democratization process so that the system would be one that is based on the supremacy of law.

Speaking on the relationship between the Armed Forces and the government, Wiranto said ABRI would not act as the protector of a "regime" but a constitutional government.

"Should there be a conflict between the people and the government, ABRI will take a neutral stance and view the problem within its context," he said.

Concerning the upcoming elections, Wiranto said the Armed Forces would keep pushing new political parties to become more independent and qualified in order to be responsive to the people's aspirations.

ABRI will also work together with parties that put the nation's interests above any group interests, he said.

Meanwhile, student protests in Jakarta and Yogyakarta called on the Armed Forces to quit its role in politics on Monday. The protesters also demanded that high-ranking officers involved in atrocities against civilians over the decades to be brought to trial.

Calling themselves the Committee for People's Struggle for Change (KPRP), hundreds of students in Yogyakarta gathered at the Gadjah Mada University roundabout, attacking ABRI's dual- function.

"The source of prolonged economic and political crisis in the country is the military's interference in politics," one of the protesters said.

In Central Jakarta, some 100 students voiced a similar demand near the Kebun Sirih water fountain, some 100 meters from the Ministry of Defense on Jl. Merdeka Barat.

The group called themselves the Committee for People's Struggle against ABRI's Dual-Function (Keparad).

Both protests ended peacefully. (23/44/swa/aan/imn)