Expert queries 'sudden' drafting of presidency bill<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): To end confusion on reports of a new bill on the
\npresidency, any draft should be given to the upcoming House of
\nRepresentatives and the new government to work on, a noted
\nsociologist said.<\/p>\n
Selo Soemardjan questioned on Wednesday why the government and
\nthe House were suddenly drawing up a bill on the presidency.<\/p>\n
\"Among the people, there is a question of why the government
\nand the House which, in conventional political terms (should be
\ninactive) after the 1999 poll, are suddenly spiritedly drawing up
\na bill on the presidency,\" Selo said.<\/p>\n
\"Is it because the government and the House want to ensure
\nthat the... presidency will... have important conditions to
\nhelp the status quo defend themselves against the reform
\nmovement?\" he said at a discussion at the House on the
\npresidency.<\/p>\n
Legislators have denied they are drawing up such a bill,
\nsaying theirs is only a \"concept\".<\/p>\n
The bill drafted by the government has the controversial
\ncondition of the minimum of a university graduate for the
\npresidential candidate, which is considered by some to be
\ndeliberately designed to kick Megawati Soekarnoputri, chairwoman
\nof the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan)
\nout of the presidential race.<\/p>\n
Selo, saying he was citing legal experts, said the draft bills
\nfrom both parties should be given to the new House and the new
\ngovernment to work on.<\/p>\n
The former advisor to the vice president also said the elected
\npresident was expected to be sensitive to the diversity of people
\nin the country, through the justice reflected in each decision.<\/p>\n
By adopting \"universal\" values such as honesty and
\nassertiveness, Selo said, the new president would gain the
\n\"necessary charisma for the unity between people and the rulers,
\na social and cultural unity\".<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a response was aired on Wednesday on the proposal
\nof Abdurrahman Wahid, chairman of the influential Nahdlatul Ulama
\nMuslim organization and presidential candidate of the National
\nAwakening Party (PKB) that Megawati should become president.<\/p>\n
He also proposed on Tuesday that he could chair the People's
\nConsultative Assembly (MPR) and that Amien Rais, president
\ncandidate of the National Mandate Party (PAN), could become
\nSpeaker of the House of Representatives (DPR).<\/p>\n
Amien said Abdurrahman might be \"joking\".<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Military (TNI) chief of Territorial Affairs,
\nLt. Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono declined to comment whether the
\nmilitary would extend support to the suggested leaders.<\/p>\n
He added, \"It's up to the new MPR to decide, whether to change
\nthe Assembly's internal rules to accommodate the people's calls
\nfor a democratic election of the president and vice president.\"<\/p>\n
In Ujungpandang, politics lecturer from the Hasanuddin
\nUniversity Kausar Bailusy dismissed on Wednesday the possibility
\nof the incumbent B.J. Habibie and Megawati as the president and
\nvice president respectively for the 1999-2004 term, as a
\npresidential advisor had suggested.<\/p>\n
\"It's irrational and could be taken as a political insult for
\nMegawati if Habibie, whose Golkar Party ranks second after
\nMegawati's PDI Perjuangan in the (provisional) poll results, was
\npromoted as president and Megawati as vice president,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"Moreover, it would be hard for PDI Perjuangan supporters to
\naccept the compromise because from what they know the election
\nwinner would have full authority to determine its presidential
\ncandidate,\" he added.<\/p>\n
A politics researcher here, Hermawan Sulistiyo, blamed
\npolitical party campaigns on creating the wrong impression that
\nthe winner of the elections would automatically determine the
\npresidency.<\/p>\n
\"What is definite is that those who win get seats to make
\nlaws,\" he said, as quoted by Antara.<\/p>\n
If the incumbent B.J. Habibie was reelected, \"his first
\nchallenge would be to face the House dominated by PDI Perjuangan,
\nand political problems entering the year 2000 when the government
\nproposes the state budget,\" Hermawan said.<\/p>\n
Nearing the end of the national vote count on Wednesday, more
\nPDI Perjuangan loyalists emotionally expressed allegiance to
\nMegawati.<\/p>\n
In the Central Java town of Pati, some 500 Megawati loyalists
\npin-pricked their thumbs and stamped their blood-marked digit on
\na 100-meter long white banner. Similar support was delivered by
\nsome 100 Megawati loyalists in Sragen, also in Central Java, who
\nstamped their blood-marked digits on a 50-meter white banner.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Semarang Mayoralty Elections Committee on
\nWednesday sent a plastic chair to the General Elections
\nCommission (KPU) office, to protest the slow tallying of the poll
\nresults and the alleged KPU members' money-oriented behavior.<\/p>\n
Support was also raised on Wednesday for the proposal of Amien
\nof PAN who said that presidential candidates should be subject to
\na public debate in the presidential election has gained support.<\/p>\n
\"I made the proposal myself some time ago,\" Minister of Home
\nAffairs Syarwan Hamid said, \"so we wouldn't be buying a pig in a
\npoke.\" (imn\/anr\/har\/30)<\/p>",
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