'Keep your candidates to yourselves'<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and
\nSecurity Soesilo Soedarman said yesterday that the current debate
\nabout who will be Indonesia's president after 1998 should refrain
\nfrom mentioning names.<\/p>\n
If people start naming names, it could create disturbances,
\nSoesilo said yesterday, as quoted by Antara.<\/p>\n
\"This is not the time to name any candidate. Just keep it in
\nyour heart and pray. Let's not have a row over this,\" he was
\nquoted by the news agency as saying.<\/p>\n
\"One of the bad habits of Eastern people is that, if we name a
\ncandidate, we start looking at his bad side or digging up dirt,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
\"This person is okay, but there's something wrong with the way
\nhe smiles,\" he said, citing an example of the habit of picking on
\nothers regarding even the smallest details.<\/p>\n
For the time being, everyone should refrain from debating
\nwhether the candidate should be tall or short, dark or fair-
\nskinned, male or female, a civilian or someone from the military,
\nhe added.<\/p>\n
He made the remarks off the cuff while addressing a seminar at
\nhis office on the government's plan to launch a campaign to
\ntighten national discipline next week.<\/p>\n
Soesilo is the latest government official to try to dampen the
\nsuccession debate, which was reopened early this month by
\nChairman of the Supreme Advisory Council Sudomo. The latter said
\nthat he knew for a fact that President Soeharto would like to see
\na civilian, rather than someone with a military background,
\nbecome the next vice president.<\/p>\n
Sudomo's statement sparked controversy because it implied that
\nSoeharto, now 73 years old, would run again when his current term
\nin office ends in 1998 and that the incumbent would be reelected.<\/p>\n
Soeharto has not made his intentions known to the public.<\/p>\n
Rather than focusing on the future vice president, the debate
\nhas shifted to the question of whether or not Indonesia will see
\na change of president in 1998.<\/p>\n
No one has so far ventured to name a candidate for the
\npresidential post, but there has been no shortage of suggested
\ncandidates for vice president, ranging from Harmoko, the chairman
\nof the ruling political group Golkar to Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana,
\nSoeharto's eldest daughter and a rising figure in politics and
\nbusiness.<\/p>\n
Harmoko has dismissed the controversy about the presidential
\nsuccession as \"unethical\" given that the incumbent is still
\nserving the nation.<\/p>\n
Soeharto is Indonesia's second president since the country
\ngained independence in 1945. A career soldier, he replaced
\nSukarno in 1967 as acting president and was elected the following
\nyear.<\/p>\n
He has since been reelected by the People's Consultative
\nAssembly (MPR) five times, running unopposed.<\/p>\n
Soesilo said yesterday that there was no need to groom the
\nnext leader at this early stage.<\/p>\n
\"When the time comes, he (the candidate) will come forward and
\nwill be duly elected. There is no need to make various
\nscenarios,\" he said. \"Let the MPR elect the president. We don't
\nneed to name the candidate now,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, State Minister of Research and Technology B.J.
\nHabibie, rumored as a possible presidential candidate, also
\ndismissed yesterday the succession debate as premature, Antara
\nreported.<\/p>\n
\"Let's not talk about the succession now. The mechanism (for
\npresidential election) is there. Let's leave it to the MPR,\" he
\ntold reporters in Surabaya during a working visit.<\/p>\n
Asked by reporters if he would be ready if the MPR nominated
\nhim for the top job, he asked: \"Ready for what?\" (emb)<\/p>",
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