Adi disclaims engineering nomination for presidency

Adi disclaims engineering nomination for presidency

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises
Adi Sasono denied on Friday he had any influence on the People's
Sovereignty Party's (PDR) recent decision to nominate him for
presidency. Instead, he said he was committed to serving the
people.

"I have never planned any such nomination or engineered
anything to land a position in my life," he told a gathering of
influential ulemas (Muslim clerics) at the Al Azhar Grand Mosque
in South Jakarta. "In fact, I have more experience as a defeated
person."

However, he said he could not prevent anyone from expressing
their aspirations and naming him their presidential candidate.
"That's their choice. I myself never asked for any position," he
said.

In the meeting organized by K.H. Abdul Rasyid Abdullah Syafei
and Moeslim Aboud Ma'ani, Adi spoke of how in the campaigning
period political parties raced to show their concern for the poor
because they wanted their votes.

"But after this 'fiesta' is over, the poor will still be
evicted (from their homes). Why? Because once the parties win,
they will side with the conglomerates or the capitalists," he
said.

People would stay poor as they are being cheated all the time,
Adi said. "For hundreds of years we have been bowing to capital
owners. That is why when I was appointed minister, I thought
about how to empower the people."

Adi became a controversial figure soon after his Cabinet
appointment, especially for his "people's economy" concept, which
pays attention to small scale enterprises and provides for loan
schemes for farmers.

PDR, which claims to aim at empowering common people and their
economic resources, has nominated incumbent President B.J.
Habibie and Adi as its tentative presidential candidates. The
two, both key figures behind the Association of Indonesian Muslim
Intellectuals (ICMI), are known to be close friends.

Adi was recently dismissed from Golkar, which has named
Habibie its sole presidential candidate. Adi had earlier refused
to campaign for Golkar.

Both Golkar and PDR are now facing allegations of money
politics. The hardest call to disqualify both parties from the
elections for alleged vote-buying came from the Urban Poor
Consortium (UPC), led by Wardah Hafidz.

The UPC has accused PDR and Golkar of diverting US$800 million
earmarked for a poverty alleviation program for their election
campaigns and distributing the money under the parties' names.

"That's nonsense," Adi said. "The farming loans which have
been disbursed is about Rp 4.5 trillion. How did they come up
with an allegation that Rp 6.5 trillion had been misused?"

"And remember that farming loan is not organized under my
ministry. It is a banking matter," Adi said. (edt)