Govt drops plan of impeachment seminar<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): After months of debate, the government dropped
\nyesterday its controversial plan to hold a seminar on the 1966
\nimpeachment of first president Sukarno.<\/p>\n
State Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman, who
\nhad initiated the plan, canceled the seminar which would have
\ndiscussed the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly's
\nrejection of Sukarno's accountability speech.<\/p>\n
Hayono said several parties had advised him to cancel the
\nseminar. He announced the cancellation after meeting President
\nSoeharto at the Bina Graha presidential office.<\/p>\n
"When you study it thoroughly, there is no need to hold a
\nspecial seminar," Hayono quoted Soeharto as saying.<\/p>\n
Sukarno, in his Nawaksara speech to an emergency session of
\nthe provisional consultative assembly in June 1966, defended his
\nadministration and failed, contrary to most expectations, to
\ncondemn the now-banned Indonesian Communist Party for its botched
\ncoup attempt in September 1965.<\/p>\n
Hayono announced the seminar in March, creating controversy
\nwith some saying that it would only open old wounds.<\/p>\n
Hayono said later that he would run a seminar at the end of
\nthis month to discuss whether there should be a seminar on the
\nNawaksara speech.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Hayono blamed press sensationalism for the
\ncontroversy over the seminar.<\/p>\n
"Press reports on the seminar had become a seminar in
\nthemselves," Hayono said.<\/p>\n
Those who had strongly opposed the plan included Manai
\nSophian, a Sukarno admirer. He said the seminar would only be
\nworthwhile if organizers let people speak freely.<\/p>\n
Gen. (ret) Abdul Haris Nasution, who in 1966 chaired the
\nsession of the consultative assembly, had supported the idea but
\nsuggested that Hayono consider its timing.<\/p>\n
Minister\/State Secretary Moerdiono had defended the seminar,
\nbut said it should not be held until after next March's
\npresidential election.<\/p>\n
Armed Forces chief spokesman Brig. Gen. Slamet Supriadi had
\nsaid the military supported the seminar to inform the public
\nabout what really happened during and after the session.<\/p>\n
Hayono said in April that the seminar would also cover the
\nMarch 11, 1966, decree (Supersemar), in which Sukarno authorized
\nSoeharto to restore order in the country, because the letter and
\nSukarno's impeachment could not be separated.<\/p>\n
A special hearing of the consultative assembly named Soeharto
\nas a temporary replacement for Sukarno in 1967. A year later the
\nassembly appointed Soeharto, then an Army lieutenant general, as
\npresident.<\/p>\n
"From a national, historical point of view, Nawaksara is only
\na part of a series of events around the birth of the New Order,"
\nHayono quoted Soeharto as saying yesterday. (06)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-drops-plan-of-impeachment-seminar-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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