Amien urges more debate on succession
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Moslem scholar Amien Rais made a fresh call yesterday for more unrestricted debate on the national leadership succession, saying it was needed to help Indonesians grow politically.
The chairman of the Muhammadiyah Moslem organization expressed regret that the current discourse on the issue was limited to debating the candidates for vice president in 1998.
Amien first made the call for new national leadership as well as nationwide dialogs on the issue in 1994. More recently, however, he has repeatedly said that President Soeharto would be reelected next year.
"Discussion on who's going to be our next president should also be held so that a productive national dialog can ensue," he told a seminar on political development at Muhammadiyah University.
"The process of national leadership succession should serve as momentum for our nation to grow politically," he said. "In order to usher in this political maturity, discussion on succession should cover both the presidency and vice presidency."
Amien cited "a political practice against the spirit of democracy, which is the developing perception that the next president is 'fixed' and unnegotiable."
He likened succession to two doors in the political landscape, with one for presidential and the other for vice presidential candidates.
"One door has been kept tightly shut while the other has already been opened. The latter is the widely discussed issue of vice presidential candidates," Amien said.
Indonesians still have nine months before a decision is made as to who will be the next president and vice president.
"If (after all the discussion) President Soeharto is re- elected to lead the nation, then the Indonesian people can enjoy the process and feel satisfied," he said.
Moral force
He said that Muhammadiyah, the country's second largest Moslem organization consisting of 28 million members, would not mention any names for the leadership because it wished to serve only as a moral force that provided ethical and moral guidance.
"The next president and vice president must undertake constitutional duties, have an unflinching sense of populism, avoid ... nepotism and reduce the wide social and economic disparities currently affecting our country," he said.
Amien said that the future candidates must be visionaries able to lead the country of 200 million people into the many responsibilities and challenges of the 21st century.
"The candidate must be an expert, capable figure who can maintain our philosophy of unity in diversity," he said.
The one-day seminar was also attended by Maj. Gen. (ret) Z.A. Maulani, a defense expert in the office of the state minister of research and technology, and political analysts Deliar Noer and Riswandha Imawan. (23/01)