Seminar on Sukarno delayed<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): After a week of polemics, the government decided
\nyesterday to postpone a controversial seminar on a speech by the
\nlate president Sukarno until after the May 29 election.<\/p>\n
Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman told
\nreporters after a meeting with House of Representatives Speaker
\nWahono that the seminar's organizers would have to wait until
\nafter the political climate had cooled.<\/p>\n
\"We think it will be inappropriate to hold the seminar this
\nmonth as originally planned because everybody will be preoccupied
\nwith the election. We are afraid that participants will not dare
\nto speak their minds,\" Hayono said.<\/p>\n
Wahono was the first to consult Hayono on the seminar. Hayono
\nsaid he would seek more advise from figures of the 1945 and 1966
\ngenerations, including former Provisional People's Consultative
\nAssembly chief Gen. (ret.) Abdul Haris Nasution and Sukarno's
\nrelatives.<\/p>\n
Nasution chaired the special session of the assembly which
\nturned down Sukarno's accountability speech, titled Nawaksara
\n(nine points), in June 1966. Sukarno gave the speech in response
\nto questions in the assembly on his stance on the failed coup
\nattempt in 1965 which was blamed on the now outlawed Indonesian
\nCommunist Party.<\/p>\n
Hayono said that President Soeharto, who has repeatedly denied
\nthat he clinched to power in the disguised coup against Soekarno,
\nhad approved the seminar last week.<\/p>\n
The organizers expected that Minister\/State Secretary
\nMoerdiono would open the three-day seminar.<\/p>\n
Hayono said that Wahono suggested yesterday that organizers be
\ncareful that the seminar does not disgrace Sukarno or hurt
\npeople's feeling.<\/p>\n
\"We never intend to dishonor our founding fathers, on the
\ncontrary we have to be brave enough to uncover the dark spots in
\nour history,\" Hayono said.<\/p>\n
The postponement would give organizers enough time to revise
\nseminar topics so that they would not humiliate Sukarno, Hayono
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Privileges<\/p>\n
\"We will talk about how to maintain our constitution which
\ndoes not give certain people privileges before the law. The
\nseminar is expected to remind future presidents not to repeat
\npast mistakes,\" said Hayono.<\/p>\n
He said the seminar would also discuss the March 11, 1966,
\nletter in which Sukarno authorized Soeharto to restore order. The
\nletter and Sukarno's impeachment could not be separated, he said.<\/p>\n
A special hearing of the provisional assembly named Soeharto
\nas a temporary replacement for Sukarno in 1967. A year later the
\nassembly appointed Soeharto as the rightful president.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Nasution also suggested postponing the seminar
\nuntil after the May 29 general election.<\/p>\n
\"It should be postponed as we (the nation) are now busy
\npreparing for the general elections and other important state
\naffairs,\" he said at his home in Menteng, Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Political observer Juwono Sudarsono was of the same opinion
\nyesterday, arguing that the seminar would spark controversy if it
\nwas held before May 29.<\/p>\n
\"It can be predicted that the seminar would turn out to be a
\nprolonged dispute between those supporting the seminar and those
\nopposed to it,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Juwono said proper representation would be needed to make the
\nseminar a success.<\/p>\n
But he objected to the idea of inviting foreign experts on
\nIndonesian affairs to the seminar, saying that their presence was
\nnot needed.<\/p>\n
Nasution, the country's most senior military official, said
\nthe seminar had to be open and transparent.<\/p>\n
\"People, who were directly involved in the Assembly's session
\nwith the late president Sukarno, should be invited as active
\nparticipants in the seminar,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"The younger generation must know the truth on what happened
\nduring and surrounding the special assembly session,\" he added.
\n(imn\/amd)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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