Page 231 - BUKU A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE IN INDONESIA

A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE
IN INDONESIA

Ismail Sunny, a University of Indonesia’s lecturer
and expert on constitutional law, was arrested
The New Order for being vocal in supporting the student protest
movement. A number of retired military figures
Government’s strong were also warned because they were critical of

response towards its and considered anti-Suharto. For example, Gen-
eral (Ret.) A.H. Nasution, Ali Sadikin, H.R. Dharso-
critics made the life of no, and Kemal Idris. In addition to arresting these

democracy in Indonesia figures, the Government had also banned mass
media (newspapers) which were considered un-
highly dependent on the balanced in broadcasting student activities.

Government, in this case After that series of events, at the Meeting of the
the President. The 1982 Armed Forces of the Republic of Indonesia in

general election took Pekanbaru, Riau, 27 March 1980, President Soe-
harto as the Supreme Commander of ABRI gave
place without too much a speech and alluded to the single principle of

tension. Pancasila. According to him, in the past Pancas-
ila was undermined by other ideologies and po-
litical parties. “I’m asking ABRI to support Golkar
in the general election,” Suharto said during an
unscripted speech.

Three weeks later, at the Kopassandha Headquarters (now Kopassus, or
the Special Forces Command), Cijantung, 16 April 1980, President Soe-
harto reiterated his statement. “It’s better for us to kidnap one of the two-
thirds of the MPR members who are going to amend the 1945 Consti-
tution, so there won’t be a quorum.” He also stated that criticizing him
meant criticizing Pancasila.

Soeharto’s two statements made a number of military and political fig-
ures anxious. They then gathered at the Grahadi Building in the Semang-
gi area on 5 May 1980. They later concluded that Soeharto needed to
provide an explanation for his two statements. The statement of concern
for the figures was signed by 50 people. Later the name of this statement
was referred to by the government as Petition 50.

The letter infuriated Soeharto for mentioning the change of national lead-
ership. The Government then pressured the signatories of the letter with
various measures, from banning them to complicating their social lives.

224