Presidential selection<\/p>\n
Your editorial Going the extra mile dated Oct. 22, 1999,
\nalthough beautifully written and sincere, seems to reflect your
\nhopes -- that the purposes of democracy have been well served by
\nthe People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in its selection of the
\nnew president and vice president -- rather than the actuality of
\nthe situation within the MPR.<\/p>\n
In your editorial dated Oct. 21, you expressed the hope that
\nin future, the president will be directly selected by the people.
\nIn fact, this is the only process accepted as democratic in the
\ninternational community, and therefore your claim that the recent
\nMPR deliberations were democratic seems to be contradictory. The
\nparty with the most votes was denied the right to select the
\npresident because of the MPR rules that guaranteed that the
\npeople would have little chance of unseating former president
\nSoeharto during his 32-year despotic reign. If the MPR had been
\ntruly sincere and proreform these invalid rules would have been
\nset aside before the selection of the new president.<\/p>\n
You may have deemed the recent selections democratic because
\nnon-Golkar people were given the key positions, when in fact,
\nGolkar were in disarray because of their embarrassment over their
\ntotally unacceptable candidates, and therefore had to improve
\ntheir image by appearing proreform.<\/p>\n
Their support of Amien Rais was a clandestine move to
\npartially defang a starving tiger. One wonders just what this
\nmarriage of convenience cost Amien Rais in honor and commitment
\nto reform. Golkar don't hand out favors without expecting
\nsomething substantial in return. Golkar's next move was to
\nchampion a presidential candidate who was least likely to
\nenergetically pursue the New Order criminals who systematically
\nrobbed this nation of its wealth for three decades. Such a
\npursuit would threaten the wealth and freedom of many high
\nranking people, including principally Golkar and military
\nfigures. Naturally, the peaceable and loving figure of
\nAbdurrahman Wahid (or Gus Dur) came to mind. Given his loving
\nnature, no one in the Golkar faction seriously believed he had
\nthe energy and will to bring people he loved to trial, and so,
\nthey grasped this last straw to save themselves from drowning.<\/p>\n
In all of this, Golkar succeeded in shielding their spiritual
\nand moral bankruptcy from public view by hiding behind Amien Rais
\nand Gus Dur. The Ciganjur Accord had proven not worth the breath
\nit took to expound its \"principles\".<\/p>\n
Their next move, in the face of threatened revolution, was to
\nhastily withdraw their totally unacceptable vice president
\ncandidates and reluctantly accord Megawati the consolation prize.<\/p>\n
Was this process democratic? I sincerely hope that the rosy
\npicture you have painted of the MPR snake pit turns out to be
\nmore true than the horror scenario I have imagined above.<\/p>\n
LEONARD JONES<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/presidential-selection-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }