Uncover the truth
Whatever one may say or think about President B.J. Habibie, it cannot be denied that the new de facto head-of-state and head-of- government at least seems to be sincerely trying to live up to the gargantuan challenges he is facing. His instructions to the Armed Forces (ABRI) leadership to dig up the truth over allegations that a certain "organized group" was behind last month's riots, for example, is a step in the right direction.
Speaking to more than 150 top-ranking Armed Forces officers at Jakarta's presidential palace on Thursday, Habibie called on ABRI to conduct a thorough investigation into the riots and present a straightforward clarification of the issue to the public.
Suspicions that at least one organized group played a part in inciting the riots that ravaged Jakarta and Surakarta last month was mentioned publicly for the first time early this month by Baharuddin Lopa, the secretary-general of this country's respected human rights watchdog, the National Commission on Human Rights. Although Baharuddin mentioned no names, he said the inquiries which the commission had made led it to conclude that "organized groups" had made use of the prevailing situation to incite trouble.
A similar public allegation was made earlier this week by Amien Rais, the chairman of the Muhammadiyah Islamic organization. Speaking to an assemblage of 2,000 Chinese- Indonesians in Surakarta on Wednesday, Amien said he had received information that the riots which erupted in several towns during the middle of last month were not spontaneous incidents but were masterminded by "puppeteers". "Who those puppeteers are, we will come to know later," he said. Accounts of groups of people being "dropped" by trucks at some of the city's worst flash points during the rioting, however, were in fact first reported to the media at the time the looting and burning was taking place.
To make things worse, a strong suspicion, rightly or wrongly, is forming in society that the rape and brutalization of innocent women, mostly of Chinese-Indonesian descent, was committed by the same, or by similar "organized groups" that started the looting and burning. In the meantime, even after all the time that has elapsed since Pius Lustrilanang made his sensational revelations about his abduction in April, investigators still have not come up with a convincing answer -- or, in fact, with any answer at all -- to who was behind the disappearance and alleged torture of opposition activists. To further add to the complications, the suspicion that the police officers currently on trial in the Trisakti student shooting case are mere scapegoats designed to protect the real guilty parties, refuses to die.
As all these questions remain unanswered, the public outrage over these perceived wrongs tends to pile up, rather than die down. The unfortunate way events are unfolding is that, unavoidably, the public's suspicions tend to be aimed at a number of members of what is perceived to be the only "organized institution" in this country capable of committing these acts, namely the Armed Forces.
Considering all this, and given the crucial role which the Indonesian Armed Forces still plays in practically every sector of our public life, it is in all our interests that a satisfactory explanation for all those events be given as soon as possible. For the Armed Forces in particular, the importance of doing so cannot be overstated.
One reminder, though, is in order: Any explanation that is given must be straightforward, honest and convincing. Unless these criteria are met, it is difficult to expect the current public skepticism to ease. At stake is the credibility of the government, and with it the immediate outlook for this nation's well-being.