Amien deserves to be president

Amien deserves to be president

I refer to the letter written by Mrs. Hilda May which appeared
in The Jakarta Post on April 10, 2001 titled :Amien Rais a real
disappointment. Mrs. Hilda charged that Amien Rais and his
allies, grouped under the Axis Force, were selfish and only
promoted their group's interest as they had supported President
Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid to win the presidency, but were now
trying to topple him.

Her view is true to some extent, but it is not holistic. Hilda
emphasized too much on the power struggle of the elite, but did
not count on the virtues of the political move. As educated
people, we should understand that political battle is common and
natural. There is nothing wrong with it as long as it is
constitutional. Instead of taking sides, we should focus on the
objectives of the many political groups, in this case, Amien and
the Axis Force.

The move to replace Gus Dur is understandable and inevitable.
The country's economy has not improved, and violence haunts every
corner of the country.

Jusuf Wanandi said, on the front page of the Post in its April
11 issue, that "Abdurrahman Wahid is incompetent to lead the
country. It seems the country has no leadership today". Besides
being incompetent, Abdurrahman Wahid has also failed to eradicate
corruption. Even the President himself is suspected of being
involved in corruption in the Bulog and Brunei scandals.

Most importantly, Gus Dur has failed give hope to his
countrymen, he has failed to shed light on how to solve the
country's problems. We need inspiration, and only a strong leader
is able to do that. We need strong, but democratic and rational
leadership. Amien Rais is a potential contender for the
presidency. He is not corrupt, and is rational, decisive,
persevering and tactical. His inclination toward the right wing
Muslim movement is disappointing, but he is changing. He has
realized that Indonesia is a very diverse country in terms of
religion and ethnicity.

Amien did not win as many votes as Megawati and Gus Dur in the
general election. His parents are ordinary people, unlike
Megawati, who is a daughter of the late president Sukarno, or
Abdurrahman, who is the son of Hasyim Ashari, a former Nahdlatul
Ulama chairman. If we cannot have him now, Megawati will do, but
only as a transitional president. Megawati respects the law, but
she is even less competent than Gus Dur.

A'AN SURYANA

Canberra