Analysts doubt polling on next president<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Two senior military analysts welcomed yesterday
\nthe idea of a national poll on President Soeharto's
\nacceptability, but expressed doubts that it could be carried out
\nsuccessfully.<\/p>\n
The deputy governor of the National Resilience Institute,
\nJuwono Sudarsono, and a former governor of the institute,
\nSayidiman Suryohadiprojo, both said they thought the national
\npoll proposal was a good one in principle.<\/p>\n
\"I have no argument against the poll idea,\" Juwono told
\nreporters after addressing a seminar at the Centre for Strategic
\nand International Studies.<\/p>\n
But Juwono said it would be very difficult to find respondents
\nwho would give their honest opinion on the issue of Indonesia's
\nleadership succession.<\/p>\n
\"There will always be a statistical bias in their answers,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Juwono said it was not the cultural tradition of most
\nIndonesians to be straightforward when expressing their opinion.<\/p>\n
The national poll suggestion was made last Friday by political
\nobserver Amien Rais, who said a poll could help to find out
\nwhether the majority of Indonesians really want to reelect
\nSoeharto.<\/p>\n
Amien said he did not believe that Golkar's decision to
\nrenominate the incumbent president really represented the view of
\nthe majority of people.<\/p>\n
Sayidiman told reporters after addressing a seminar on the
\nexisting dichotomy of indigenous and non-indigenous people
\nyesterday that Amien's suggestion for a national poll would work
\nif the dominant Golkar supported the idea.<\/p>\n
\"The idea turns out to be meaningless as Golkar, which
\ncontrols the majority of seats in the People's Consultative
\nAssembly (MPR), has dismissed the idea,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Golkar has 498 of the 1,000 Assembly seats.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the Golkar faction in the MPR, Ginandjar
\nKartasasmita, said Monday that Golkar would not listen to
\nexternal criticism of its commitment to renominate Soeharto for
\nthe 1998\/2003 presidency.<\/p>\n
Ginandjar also dismissed the idea of holding a national poll
\nto reconfirm whether Soeharto was the real choice of Indonesians.<\/p>\n
Golkar chairman Harmoko formally declared the organization's
\ndecision to renominate Soeharto in a ceremony of its 33rd
\nanniversary on Oct. 19.<\/p>\n
Political observers have said that Golkar's announcement of
\nits presidential candidate five months ahead of the presidential
\nelection was part of a maneuver to influence other factions in
\nthe Assembly to do the same.<\/p>\n
Officials of the two minority factions -- the United
\nDevelopment Party (PPP), represented by 134 legislators in the
\nAssembly, and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), represented
\nby 16 legislators -- have individually indicated that they would
\nalso renominate Soeharto for president.<\/p>\n
The Armed Forces faction, however, has been silent on the
\npresidential succession issue, except for saying that it would
\nsupport whoever is the people's best choice. The Armed Forces,
\nwhose members do not vote, are represented by 113 legislators in
\nthe Assembly.<\/p>\n
Members of the 1,000-seat MPR will convene next March to elect
\na president and vice president and endorse the 1998\/2003 State
\nPolicy Guidelines. (imn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/analysts-doubt-polling-on-next-president-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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