Alternative presidential candidates 'may be harmful'

Alternative presidential candidates 'may be harmful'

JAKARTA (JP): Constitutional law expert Usep Ranuwidjaja said the move by Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) chairman Abdurrahman Wahid and National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman Amien Rais to seek an alternative presidential candidate could prove dangerous.

"I think the move... is wrong and dangerous," Usep was quoted by Antara as saying on Tuesday.

Usep believes the move is intended to take advantage of the confrontation between the camps of President B.J. Habibie of Golkar and Megawati Soekarnoputri, whose Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle garnered the most votes in the June 7 general election.

Amien recently formed the so-called axis force, which groups at least eight political parties which do not support either Habibie or Megawati.

"The problem is that this so-called center coalition is made up of Islamic-based political parties, thus resulting in a confrontation between Islamic parties and nationalist parties," Usep said.

Meanwhile, leaders from two major Muslim groups on Wednesday aired reservations over the possible presidency of Megawati.

"She has never said what her vision is," Ahmad Syafii Maarif, chairman of Muhammadiyah, the country's second largest Muslim group, said.

For Muhammadiyah, reform means amending the 1945 Constitution, diminishing the role of the military in politics and bringing Soeharto and his cronies to a fair trial, Ahmad was quoted by AFP as saying.

"If we leave the Constitution as it is the country will not go anywhere and an authoritarian regime will return. This is what we fear a future with Megawati will hold," Maarif said during a lunch with foreign journalists here.

Megawati's silence over her political platform makes it "very difficult for me to follow what kind of Indonesia she and her party have in mind for the future", he said.

In the past, Megawati aired her opposition to amending the Constitution, which her father, founding president Sukarno, helped draft. She has also said she opposes ending the military's political role and has remained silent over the public's demand that Soeharto be brought to trial.

She maintained her silence throughout the elections and in her first public speech since the elections last Sunday, she failed to touch on these topics.

The chairman of NU's executive council, Fajrul Falaakh, said many NU leaders in the People's Consultative Assembly, which will elect the next president in November, may not vote for Megawati.

"I believe these religious leaders would not cite religious reasons, rather they would consider Megawati from other perspectives... for example, she has been silent for the past several months... and is she good enough to manage this high office, the presidency?"