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)