Stop condemning ABRI: Wiranto
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)