Sumitro, a general willing to resign

Sumitro, a general willing to resign

From Republika

I would like to respond to a news report in this newspaper of May 12, 1998 titled Pak Mitro Menghadap Ilahi (Pak Mitro dies). The report contains, among others, the following: "According to the Army chief, Gen. Subagyo HS, Pak Mitro's conviction that he had failed in his duties, leading to his resignation, was not part of the Indonesian culture. This, I think, is the manifestation of a great sense of responsibility."

I would like to ask: Did Bung Hatta and Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX as vice presidents in their own time go against the Indonesian culture when both eventually resigned as vice presidents? They resigned because they had a strong conviction regarding a particular matter and not because the Indonesian culture was alien to them. I am convinced of this because I often talked with both of then when they were still in office.

As for the late Gen. Sumitro, he often visited me and we had an exchange of ideas (I'm much older than him) about his resignation and rejection of his appointment as Indonesia's ambassador to the United States (1974). I told him spontaneously: "Yours is a gallant attitude and I appreciate it greatly. You are different from a number of officials who do their best to maintain their position as a belonging, using whatever reasons, shameful even, so that all systems get destroyed."

At the time I also explained to him the reason why I tendered my resignation from the government (also in 1974) in a forceful manner, namely during a meeting between the government, led by state minister of administrative reforms Soemarlin and state secretary Soedharmono, and secretaries-general, directors general, inspectors general and department heads, to discuss government regulations Nos. 6 and 10, in a situation that was characterized by laughter and jokes. When the participants were given a chance to ask questions, none dared do so.

But after I stood up and inquired about the implementation of government regulations Nos. 6 and 10, the others laughed at me. Seeing what was happening around me, I stood up again and said: "Pak Marlin, I request permission to get out of the government right now. I don't want to trample upon the signature of the President affixed on government regulations Nos. 6 and 10."

Arriving home, I wrote a letter of resignation right away. In point of fact, the regulations, issued in 1974, until this day have not been implemented, i.e. after a lapse of 24 years, while many officials have "trampled upon" the signature of the President. I thank God that I did not follow suit because doing so is a sin.

Don't we have any sense of shame? Is this what is called the culture of the Indonesian people? The following saying circulates among the public: "People have become very rich. They own practically anything. However, there is one thing that they do not have yet, namely, a sense of shame." As a soldier, it saddens me every time I hear this saying. I always pray to God that resigning from one's position will become part of the Indonesian culture.

M. JASIN

Jakarta