A president from the legislature: Soemitro's dream<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Retired General Soemitro has again added fuel to
\nthe succession debate, saying he would like to see the next
\nIndonesian president come from the ranks of the House of
\nRepresentatives.<\/p>\n
\"My own personal dream is to see, as the next president,
\nsomeone who has served in the House,\" said the former commander
\nof the powerful Internal Security Agency.<\/p>\n
Soemitro said that legislators tended to be more open and
\nresponsive to a plurality of ideas, since they were accustomed to
\naccommodating differing views in the House.<\/p>\n
Soemitro made the remarks on Saturday at a discussion held by
\nFosko 66, a study and communication forum that grew out of the
\n1966 students' movement which helped topple the \"Old Order\"
\nregime of former president Sukarno.<\/p>\n
Soemitro said he would be delighted to see senior military
\nofficers having to accept decisions of a House of Representatives
\nlead by a young civilian.<\/p>\n
The issue of the presidential succession is an increasingly
\npopular topic as the count-down begins to the 1997 general
\nelection and the selection of the Indonesian president the
\nfollowing year.<\/p>\n
Soemitro's comments came shortly after a similar statement by
\nthe head of the Supreme Advisory Council, Sudomo, who said that
\nthe next president should be someone with a civilian background.<\/p>\n
Noted political analyst Harry Tjan Silalahi said on Saturday
\nthat legislators tended to be more democratic.<\/p>\n
\"That doesn't mean that being a member of the House makes you
\na democrat, but being in the House gives you an opportunity to be
\nmore of a democrat,\" Harry said, adding that he had observed that
\nmembers of the Armed Forces become more democratic after gaining
\nexperience as legislators.<\/p>\n
Soemitro also took issue on Saturday with the widely-held view
\nthat there are no competent alternative presidents, should
\nSoeharto decide to step down from the presidency in 1998.<\/p>\n
\"The are millions of leaders in Indonesia, the only problem is
\nthat of opportunity,\" he said. \"Every human being is capable of
\ngreatness. Given the opportunity and the responsibility, he'll
\nreach the height,\" he added, quoting an old saying.<\/p>\n
Soemitro said that there should be no political parochialism
\non the part of the two \"opposition\" parties because, he said, it
\nwould make no different who won the election, since all three
\npolitical parties in Indonesia have accepted Pancasila as the
\nnational ideology.<\/p>\n
\"There are no grounds on which to differentiate between them.
\nWhoever wins will be Pancasila-ist,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Regarding the 1997 election, Soemitro said there were several
\npreconditions to its being successful and fair.<\/p>\n
The bureaucracy from had to make a clean break from any
\npolitical ties, he said.<\/p>\n
In the past, Indonesian civil servants have generally been
\nexpected to vote for the ruling Golkar faction.<\/p>\n
\"The administration must revive itself as a national
\nbureaucracy which maintains governmental stability and thus must
\nnot be affiliated with any party,\" Soemitro said.<\/p>\n
He also called for a new role for the military, free from
\npolitical allegiances.<\/p>\n
\"It has to be free and stand above all groups,\" he said,
\nadding that the Armed Forces must again become \"a tool of the
\nstate, and not a tool of power.\"<\/p>\n
By law, members of the Indonesian Armed Forces do not vote in
\nelections nor can they run for office. But in recognition of
\ntheir contribution to political development in Indonesia, 100 of
\nthe 500 seats in the House of Representatives are reserved for
\nrepresentatives of the military. Last week the House endorsed a
\ngovernment-sponsored bill to reduce the number of the military's
\nseats to 75, beginning in 1997.<\/p>\n
Soemitro said he agreed about the Armed Forces' role as a
\nstabilizer and that they should not vote until the social and
\npolitical situation in the country was more established.<\/p>\n
\"I am afraid of the possible consequences if the Armed Forces
\nwere given the right to vote,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Soemitro said the independence of institutions created by the
\ngovernment, such as the Family Planning Program or the National
\nFamily Welfare Movement, was a further prerequisite of fair
\nelections in 1997.<\/p>\n
\"Hopefully the elections will reflect the electorate's
\nevaluation of the government's performance over the past five
\nyears,\" Soemitro said. (mds)<\/p>",
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