Habibie calls for successful MPR Special Session<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie called on the nation
\nFriday to help ensure the success of the Special Session of the
\nPeople's Consultative Assembly (MPR), which he described as a
\nvery important milestone in Indonesia's journey through the past
\n53 years.<\/p>\n
\"There's no reason for anyone not to ensure the success of the
\nsession,\" Habibie said while receiving 50 ulemas and leaders of
\nIslamic boarding schools from Java and Madura at the Merdeka
\nPalace here.<\/p>\n
\"We have gone through a period of fighting and finally we come
\nto the session, which we will conduct democratically in the next
\nfive days,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said the whole country should take part in making the
\nsession on Nov. 10-13 not only a success but also a peaceful and
\nproductive one.<\/p>\n
\"After this, we will have to be ready for the general election
\nin five months time. It used to take us two years to prepare for
\nan election contested by only three parties. This time, we have
\nonly five months to prepare for one with at least 100 new
\nparties,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Not all of the newly established parties, however, would be
\nable to contest the poll as there were certain requirements to be
\nmet, Habibie said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) has
\nasked all churches and Christian Indonesians to say special
\nprayers for the success of the session.<\/p>\n
The communion also called in a press statement on Christian
\nIndonesians to pray for national unity and strength so the
\ncountry can cope with the economic crisis.<\/p>\n
Chairman Sularso Sopater asked people to respect and
\nappreciate different opinions and do away with selfishness, the
\nrelease said.<\/p>\n
\"This would help accelerate the Special Session so that it
\ncould make significant decisions for the sake of total reform in
\nthe country,\" Sopater said.<\/p>\n
Separately, Mochtar Pabottingi, a respected political scholar
\nof the National Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said the upcoming
\nsession would not be relevant to the people's campaign for reform
\nif it maintained the presence of the Armed Forces (ABRI) in the
\nHouse of Representatives.<\/p>\n
\"The session can go ahead, but it must not endorse ABRI's
\npresence in the House,\" he said in a political discussion
\norganized by the National Mandate Party (PAN) here on Friday.<\/p>\n
\"It will be anti-democratic and if endorsed there'll be no
\ndemocracy in our country,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Another speaker in the discussion was Golkar legislator Marwah
\nDaud Ibrahim, who claimed there actually was \"mutual agreement\"
\namong legislators that \"at a certain ideal point in time\" the
\nmilitary presence in the House would end.<\/p>\n
\"The question remaining is whether we should end it now, once
\nand for all, or gradually?\" she said, but added that legislators
\nfavored the second option.<\/p>\n
Pabottingi begged to differ, saying an offer for ABRI to
\nremain only in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) was
\nindeed a gradual way for it to get out of politics.<\/p>\n
He argued the military presence in politics had brought the
\nnation more disasters than good since it had been abused by the
\npower holders to serve their political interests.<\/p>\n
The termination of the ABRI presence in politics was one of
\nsix requirements that Indonesia must meet before democratization
\ncan commence, Pabottingi said.<\/p>\n
The other requirements were sound political parties, fair
\nelections, legislatures that function well, solid judicial and
\nexecutive branches of power, and a free media, Pabottingi said.<\/p>\n
He speculated that it was possible the session would be abused
\nby certain \"anti-reform\" forces within the Assembly, which he
\nbelieved were still \"a majority.\"<\/p>\n
By including a draft decree on allotment of House seats for
\nthe Armed Forces among the documents to be deliberated by the
\nAssembly, he argued, would effectively \"shut people up.\"<\/p>\n
\"We are expecting a democratic election, but even before it is
\nstarted it has been made anti-democratic with the inclusion of
\nABRI in the House,\" he said. (swe\/aan)<\/p>",
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