Amien wants Megawati replaced immediately<\/p>\n
Muhammad Nafik and Ainur R. Sophiaan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta\/Surabaya<\/p>\n
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker Amien Rais on
\nThursday launched a harsh attack on President Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri and in an indirect way called for her ouster.<\/p>\n
\"Our national leaders do not have self-confidence anymore.
\nThey would be better off just becoming servants in other
\ncountries. Foreign entities like the IMF can easily dictate
\nIndonesia. We are now like a car whose driver needs to be
\nreplaced,\" Amien said in the East Java capital of Surabaya on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
He did not name the \"driver\" in his tirade but was apparently
\nreferring to Megawati, whose administration has drawn sharp
\ncriticism from many for her contentious policies considered to
\nhave victimized the public.<\/p>\n
It was Amien's staunchest criticism of Megawati to date, whose
\nrise to the presidency in July last year was helped by Amien. He
\nhad a hand in unseating her predecessor Abdurrahman \"Gus Dur\"
\nWahid from power through a special MPR session.<\/p>\n
A few months before the MPR managed to oust the Gus Dur, Amien
\nhad also used the same term of \"driver\" in reference to him when
\ncampaigning for a new president.<\/p>\n
It was unclear whether Amien, chairman of the National Mandate
\nParty (PAN), was serious about actually launching a special
\nsession to replace the president on Thursday or was merely
\nengaging in political maneuvering ahead of the 2004 election.<\/p>\n
Claiming not to be against foreigners, the MPR speaker lashed
\nout at most of the top government leaders for favoring other
\ncountries in efforts to cope with the nation's economic crisis.<\/p>\n
He criticized the government's intentions to sell several
\nstate-owned enterprises, which he proclaimed to be \"in a healthy
\ncondition\", to overseas conglomerates.<\/p>\n
Cited as examples were Pertamina, Semen Gresik and Telkom,
\nwhich Amien claimed had been offered to foreign investors.<\/p>\n
\"Pak Kwik (Kian Gie) and I can't imagine why a certain party
\nwants to sell those assets,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Kwik, state minister of national development planning, is the
\nstaunchest critic of the government's policy to cooperate with
\nthe International Monetary Funds (IMF) reform directives.<\/p>\n
Amien also lamented the government's inaction in dealing with
\nthe \"huge economic leakages\", (corruption) including the high-
\nprofile scandal of the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI)
\nfunds, which caused Rp 160 trillion in losses to the state.<\/p>\n
\"To this point, very little, if anything has been done on the
\nBLBI case,\" he added.<\/p>\n
He questioned the extension of the contracts with American
\ncompanies such as PT Freeport Indonesia in the country's eastern
\nmost province of Papua, where uranium was also discovered by
\nAmerican scientists with the gold and copper mining company.<\/p>\n
\"It is time for the government to take over the management of
\nsuch natural resources of the nation. They should never have been
\nsold to foreigners,\" he added.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/amien-wants-megawati-replaced-immediately-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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