Indonesia THE ARMED FORCES IN THE NATIONAL LIFE
Navy helicopter taking off from patrol ship
Courtesy Indonesian Department of Information
Despite its pivotal role in the establishment of the
republic, the armed forces did not initially seek to play
a
dominant political role in the formative years of
Indonesian
parliamentary democracy. Although it appears that military
leaders desired national political power, they seemed to
have
understood they could not achieve it solely through the
exercise
of force. It was circumstances rather than deliberate
planning
that pressed the armed forces to gradually enlarge their
role in
the nation. As it consolidated each stage of its growing
political power, however, the military leadership was
reluctant
to surrender its gains. By the early 1990s, the
inculcation of
the Pancasila and the institutionalization of the
dwifungsi principle under the laws of the nation,
however,
have provided the military with an unprecedented degree of
legitimacy in Indonesia's political affairs.
In late 1982, the DPR put the dwifungsi
principle on
firm legal ground when it replaced the old 1954 defense
law with
a new one expressly stating that ABRI is both a military
and a
social force. The new law, unlike its predecessor, is
based on
the principles of Pancasila and the 1945 constitution, and
confers formal legitimacy on the wide-ranging powers
exercised by
the armed forces in the name of preserving and
strengthening
national resilience. The government's sanction of
dwifungsi recognized the need for ABRI's continued
influence in the basic national infrastructure so that
national
development would buttress national defense.
ABRI's involvement in the national life included the
assignment of both active-duty and retired military
personnel to
civil administrative and policy positions. Gradually, as
stability came to the economic sector, military personnel
withdrew from the economic policy-making area, and by 1980
all
active-duty personnel had left their positions in
non-defense-
related economic enterprises, although they remained
active in
military-owned and -managed businesses. These businesses
were
primarily in the sectors of plantation agriculture, timber
cultivation and harvest, and transportation. Retired
military
officers continued to run some nationalized firms and
militaryowned enterprises, although they frequently hired civilian
managers.
Data as of November 1992
|