Indonesia and ABRI: Challenges for the Future

Summary

Introduction

Indonesia experienced a turbulent year in 1996, as events and circumstances brought both continued economic progress and new security challenges to the country. At the same time the people and leaders of the world's fourth most populous country are preparing for one of the most important transition periods in Indonesia's fifty-one years of independence. Such roller-coaster developments are unusual in Indonesia, which values consensus and order, and which strives in both private and governmental life to arrange a harmonious passage of events.

Events of the past year have inevitably tied the Indonesian government and society in general to the future of the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI — the acronym for the Armed Forces of the Republic of Indonesia). The events of 1996 illustrate dramatically how ABRI influences, and is influenced by, the society of which it is a part.

ABRI's New Professionalism and Confidence

ABRI approaches the 21st century with strong leadership, an emphasis on improved professionalism, and a spirit of confidence. These aspects date, for the most part, only to the early 1990s. The change in senior leadership that occurred at that time was a watershed in the development of ABRI's military professionalism as well as in the broad general context in which ABRI functions within the complex Indonesian society.

At the same time there is an almost unprecedented debate within ABRI concerning the role of the armed forces in society, particularly the future of its unique dwifungsi (dual function) concept which immerses ABRI in society as a “socializing and dynamizing force”. This debate is occasioned by fast moving changes in Indonesian society caused by rapid economic development, social and economic pressures strongly influenced by that development, as well as increased demands for relaxation of the tight political discipline enforced on society by the New Order government.

The rise to the top of the ABRI leadership of General Feisal Tanjung, a consummate military professional, is a key development in recent ABRI history.