---------------------------------------------------------- FREE for JOIN Indonesia Daily News Online via EMAIL: go to: http://www.indo-news.com/subscribe.html - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - Dengan mengClick banner sponsor anda menyumbang Rp. 1000,- untuk HomePage IndoNews. ---------------------------------------------------------- KOLOM SUPANGKAT: "DEMOCRACY" AT THE POINT OF A GUN = "DEMOCRAZY" The Parliament's (DPR) legitimation of the 38 seats for the ABRI and the statusquo on the 200 government apppointed provicial "representatives" is a joke. It is not democracy it is "democrazy". Having 38 representatives without going through the paranoia of the general election is like representing 38 X 600.000 voters = 22.800.000 meaning 100.000 times the total members of the Armed Forces more or less! Why is this privillege so huge, does the Armed Forces who is notably responsible for 800.000 massacre of the suspected communist, hundred thousand dead in East Timor, Aceh, Irian Jaya, Jakarta, etc deserved to be granted such a grandio- zo bonys? What kind of nation have we become? What kind of democracy do we have at the point of a gun? It is even worst than the democracy in Turkey where the Army has the absolute power yet limited to elimin- ate Islamic Theocracy only. In Indonesia, the power of the Army is unlimited, given its dual function and the perennial position of incumbency. With 38 representatives the Army is not only a stumbling block but a barricade against full fledged democracy. It is a "Suharto's new order without Suharto". Onlly heaven knows who is going to get what in the next election. Polls, predictions abound, the victory is up for grabs unpredictably but there are predeterminations: money politics, anarchy, and last but not least: the Army's Intelligence capability to meddle even to steer up events in their favour by all kinds of ways and means at hands anytime they need to utilize them. Amien Rais found out that whenever there was anarchy, the Army showed its dirty hands. This is before the campaigning, during the campaigning it is even- more paramount for them to be more involved. After the election, the 38 representatives of the ABRI wouldn't be sitting dummies as we would like to think, they are going to fight for their life against total Reform- ation and Democratization without having to campaign, to struggle in politics, to present new programs for development, etc. They are like the Roman Tribunes who are siding with the Patricians against the Plebeians, unconceivable in Roman history. They will stay in the DPR and the MPR forever instead of 6 years as "granted" by Abdurrachman Wahid. There will be no democracy in the true sense of the word like general Hasnan Ha- bib said, as long as there is a bifunction of the Army. But there are so many civil- ians who failed to see this simple truth. With 38 votes they could do a lot to sabotage democracy because they wouldn't be alone, there will be fellow travellers al along. After the general election we won't have democracy, we won't have total Reform- ation, what we have is a statusquo, a little better perhaps than during the Suhar- to or Habibie's tenures. Good Lordie, help us. H.S. Hidayat Supangkat New York. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 23 Feb 1999 jam 18:28:06 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
