Lee comes out in support of dual function<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (AFP): Indonesia needs to elect a new government to
\npursue reforms, but risks chaos if the Army is forced back to the
\nbarracks soon, Singaporean statesman Lee Kuan Yew said in remarks
\npublished Thursday.<\/p>\n
\"They need a government that will restore order and
\nconfidence. For that, they need elections to produce a government
\nthat will have legitimacy with their people,\" the former prime
\nminister of Singapore said.<\/p>\n
\"Only such a government will have the clout to carry through
\nthe tough reforms they need. There are no soft options,\" he said
\nin an interview with the Financial Times of London, excerpted in
\nSingapore's Straits Times.<\/p>\n
\"The government has to restore confidence, get entrepreneurs
\nto recapitalize their businesses and get goods and services to
\nflow. If they do it in stages, do not try to have total change at
\nonce, and the army stays in support of the government, there is a
\nfair chance that they can pull through.\"<\/p>\n
Students who clashed with troops during last week's Special
\nSession of the People's Consultative Assembly, clashes which left
\nat least 15 people dead, want an end to the Indonesian Army's
\ndual function of preserving security and participating in
\npolitics.<\/p>\n
They have also demanded the resignation of Armed Forces chief
\nGen. Wiranto, who is also minister of defense.<\/p>\n
\"If they go for immediate and total change, and (say) out with
\nthe army, then there could be trouble,\" Lee said. \"If the army is
\nnot in active support of the government, not an active
\nparticipant in decisions affecting law and order, there could be
\nchaos,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Wiranto's support is perceived to be crucial to the political
\nsurvival of President B.J. Habibie, who took over after bloody
\nriots and a severe economic crisis forced veteran leader Soeharto
\nto resign last May.<\/p>\n
Elections for a new parliament are scheduled to take place by
\nmid-1999, and the body will later elect a new president.<\/p>\n
During last week's unrest, Habibie signed 12 draft decrees
\ninto law, including one that allowed the military to stay in the
\nlegislatures and continue their dominant role in politics.<\/p>\n
Lee said Indonesia, the world's fourth largest nation with
\nmore than 200 million people, could rebound in five to 10 years,
\nand urged industrial powers to help the country \"recover as an
\nopen, forward-looking society\".<\/p>\n
The 75-year-old Lee, a political contemporary of Ferdinand
\nMarcos of the Philippines and Soeharto, after 31 years as prime
\nminister stepped down in 1990 in favor of his protege Goh Chok
\nTong, but remains a senior minister in the cabinet and serves as
\na roving envoy for Singapore.<\/p>",
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