A feasible solution

As the political tension in Indonesia escalates and the plenary session of the House of Representatives (DPR) is around the corner, as an ordinary citizen I would like to suggest the following: * Mr. Akbar Tandjung should resign as DPR's speaker. One of the reasons is he is part of the New Order regime, which in the past has had a very significant role. He held three ministerial posts in the era of Soeharto i.e.: minister of youth and sports affairs, minister of people's housing and state secretary. It is too naive to presume that his current political moves have nothing to do with efforts to protect his crony's sins, specifically their acts of corruption. * Mr. Amien Rais should resign as speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly. Even though he is one of the so-called reform heroes, his current political moves are heavily motivated by greed for power and to some degree have caused unnecessary political turmoil which of course has a negative impact on our economic climate. * Mr. Abdurrahman Wahid should likewise resign as President. Because of his physical handicap and his resoluteness to defend his political position, he has made some political compromises with the New Order regime. In the end he has done nothing for economic recovery or for law enforcement in this country. No one has gone to jail for corruption, even Tommy who has been sentenced to 18-months in prison, has been at large since November last year. * Mrs. Megawati Soekarnoputri should resign as Vice President. Some of the President's authority has been delegated to her. Even in the last few months she has presided over the cabinet meeting, but so far no significant achievement has been demonstrated. * Hold the general elections for direct election of President and Vice President in one package, so the cooperation between the two can be guaranteed as is the case in the USA. This general election would be relatively cheaper compared to the general elections for electing legislators. In this case there would be no change in the legislature. This means that we still honor the results of the 1999 general election.

M SULHAN ASKANDAR

Jakarta