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Indonesia Political and Administrative Role
ABRI's perception of its political role in the early
1990s
was that of a national institution above partisan
interests and
closely tied to the people, with a duty to foster
conditions of
order and security in which the habits of a stable and
institutionalized political process could develop.
Political
excesses during the first two decades of the republic had,
in
ABRI's view, discredited party politics as a proper outlet
for
grass-roots expression and forced the armed forces to act
as the
principal guarantor of internal security and political
stability.
As officially expressed in 1966, the armed forces "have an
interest to participate in the efforts to form and manage
a
government with authority, a strong and progressive
government."
As a consequence, the armed forces have been intertwined
with the
civilian side of government at every level. Military
officers,
active duty and retired, have served in the highest organs
of
policy and administration since independence
(see The Structure of Government
, ch. 4). As a major functional group within
Golkar,
the military was allotted blocs of appointive seats in
both the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and the DPR
(see Legislative Bodies
, ch. 4). The provision of appointed military
members of
the MPR and DPR was also viewed as compensation for the
activeduty members of the armed forces being denied the right to
vote.
However, retired members were permitted to vote and most
of them
belonged to an association of retired officers that formed
another of the functional groups within Golkar. Military
officers
served in civilian government posts at the provincial and
district levels.
While ABRI continued to view itself as a guardian of
both
sociopolitical and defense matters, however, the military
of the
1990s was far different from the force that fought for
independence and evolved through the tumultuous political
changes
of the 1950s and 1960s. As a result of generational
changes, a
bustling national economy, and its increased
self-confidence,
ABRI had become a force that studied its roots as history
rather
than as example
(see Leadership Transition
, this ch.).
Data as of November 1992
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