More supporters nominate Megawati for president<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Activists of the Indonesian Democratic Party
\n(PDI) are ripening their plan to push party chief Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri into the 1998 race for the presidency.<\/p>\n
In the latest development, three senior PDI members of the
\nHouse of Representatives, Aberson Marle Sihaloho, Marwan Adam and
\nS.G.B. Tampubolon, have announced their support for her.<\/p>\n
"We have signed a statement and submitted it to our branch
\noffices in the regencies. We are serious," Aberson told The
\nJakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Megawati, who celebrated her 49th birthday with relatives,
\nclose friends and journalists at her mansion in South Jakarta
\nlast night, declined to comment on the party members' move.<\/p>\n
"Please, no interviews today. I just want to relax," she
\ngrinned when journalists asked her for comments.<\/p>\n
The first to propose that the People's Consultative Assembly
\n(MPR) should accept Megawati's candidacy were seven leaders of
\nPDI regency branches in Central Java last October.<\/p>\n
Their lead was then followed by activists of youth
\norganizations affiliated to the PDI, one of Indonesia's three
\npolitical organizations which resemble an opposition party.<\/p>\n
The People's Consultative Assembly will convene in March 1998
\nto elect a new president for the next five-year term.<\/p>\n
Incumbent President Soeharto has obtained strong support from
\nmore than 12 organizations associated with the ruling Golkar
\ngroup and is expected to retain his post.<\/p>\n
In what looks like intensified efforts to garner backing for
\nMegawati, PDI activists have been collecting signatures from
\nthose who want to have her as the future President.<\/p>\n
They are distributing forms for party members and supporters
\nto affirm their support for her. The form, which does not state
\nwho issues it, states that the PDI executive board nominates
\nMegawati and that the board is striving to make sure that the
\nfuture President and Vice President be elected by a vote, not by
\nconsensus as has been the practice in the past.<\/p>\n
But officials from the PDI's executive board denied any
\nknowledge of the forms.<\/p>\n
"The initiative comes from individual party members. We aren't
\norchestrating it," said PDI deputy chairman Soetardjo
\nSoerjogoeritno.<\/p>\n
Over the past 30 years, the People's Consultative Assembly has
\nhad only a single presidential candidate, Soeharto. Pro-democracy
\nactivists have been anxious to see more than one nominee in the
\nforthcoming assembly.<\/p>\n
Aberson said that everyone knows Megawati's chances of winning
\nthe race are next to nothing. "We mean to exercise our
\nconstitutional right to have our own nominee," he said.<\/p>\n
He maintained that the forms are useful because it helps PDI
\nexecutives know what ordinary people really want them to do.<\/p>\n
"The forms were prepared by individual members, not by any PDI
\noffice and I don't think it is necessary that she (Megawati)
\nknows about them," he said. (sim\/pan)<\/p>\n
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