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Web-only Exclusives
November 30, 2000

From Our Correspondent: Hirohito and the War
A conversation with biographer Herbert Bix

From Our Correspondent: A Rough Road Ahead
Bad news for the Philippines - and some others

From Our Correspondent: Making Enemies
Indonesia needs friends. So why is it picking fights?

Asiaweek Time Asia Now Asiaweek story

A POWER CONFERENCE

Army chief Wiranto meets top oppositionists


THE SUNDAY NIGHT MEETING at the official residence of Indonesia's armed forces chief and defense minister lasted over three hours. Participants were Gen. Wiranto himself, his territorial affairs chief Lt.-Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Islamic scholar Nurcholish Madjid and top oppositionists known as the "Ciganjur Four." In November, students got opposition chiefs Amien Rais, Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati Sukarnoputri and the Sultan of Jogjakarta at Wahid's home in Ciganjur, south Jakarta, to agree on a minimal, common platform. It included successful June 7 elections, an early deadline on the formation of a new government and a gradual phasing-out of the military's active role in politics.

Only the participants know what exactly happened during their Jan. 24 conference. But when they emerged, their common stand contained a notable element: an appeal to the nation to place faith in the armed forces so they could safeguard the most crucial poll in decades. The meeting was colored by days of religious conflict and rioting in Ambon, capital of the eastern province of Maluku, which claimed over 50 lives and unleashed at least 20,000 refugees. That unrest followed riots in recent months in and around Jakarta, as well as in eastern Indonesia.

One reason for the unrest is that Indonesians have become increasingly disillusioned with the military, which was turned into a tool of power during the Suharto era. Law and order has suffered, but some attendees at the meeting mentioned other reasons for the country's disintegrating order. In the foyer of the house, Rais, who arrived last from his home in Jogjakarta, told reporters that the unrest appeared well-funded and well-organized. He had asked Wiranto to catch the provocateurs so that they would not have a "blank check" to cause more extensive trouble.

That Wiranto must associate with civilian leaders outside the government of President B.J. Habibie is revealing. The title of army chief does not really give the general full command of the faction-ridden armed forces. Since May, he has succeeded in ridding them of loyalists to his rival, Suharto son-in-law Lt.-Gen. Prabowo Subianto, and more recently he moved against Islamist elements in the army. But this time, Wiranto is up against much tougher forces. For 32 years, Suharto distributed patronage to generals and established an underground network of goons and radicals to conduct political terror. These groups remain dangerous in the post-Suharto period.

In the mid-1960s, the military, nationalists, mass Islam and Muslim activists united to eliminate communism. But the general who emerged as their leader tamed or marginalized each of the allies until the New Order they created together was his alone. There is no small irony to find the heirs of the New Order's founding forces in an alliance once more, betting that any order may soon be better than none.

- By Jose Manuel Tesoro/Jakarta


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