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?"