February 25, 2000
Report: Indonesian Military to Quit Parliament 2004
Filed at 9:14 a.m. ET
By Reuters
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's powerful but discredited military, under
pressure to
retreat from politics, will give up its guaranteed parliamentary seats at
the 2004
election, the official Antara news agency said Friday.
Antara quoted armed forces commander Admiral Widodo telling a parliamentary
the
military would relinquish its 38 seats in the 500-seat chamber and quit
politics
altogether.
``At 2004, we will no longer play a role in practical politics,'' head of
the military's
armed forces faction Hari Sabarno told reporters later.
The move comes after widespread public demands for the armed forces to get out
of politics and back into the barracks.
And it will help reinforce civilian rule as the world's fourth largest
nation moves to
democracy after three decades of authoritarian, army-backed leadership by
former
president Suharto.
Indonesia's military, raised as a people's army in the war for independence
from
the Dutch, has traditionally played a major political role and underpinned
the rule
of autocratic former general Suharto, ousted amid social and economic
turmoil in
mid-1998.
But its support for Suharto and abuses committed under his rule, as well as
the
gunning down of pro-democracy activists has destroyed its credibility among
ordinary
Indonesians and triggered demands for it to return to a purely military role.
