Amin wants poll on Soeharto's reelection

JAKARTA (JP): Political observer Amien Rais has suggested a national poll to find out whether the majority of Indonesians really want to reelect President Soeharto.

"I still do not believe that all Indonesians want to reelect Pak Harto," Amien told reporters after addressing a seminar on the state of the economy here yesterday.

"If the result of the poll shows that a majority of the people want to reelect President Soeharto, we all must honestly accept that," he said.

"But the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) should take the poll result into consideration if a majority chooses the contrary."

Members of the 1,000-strong MPR will convene next March to elect a president and vice president and endorse the 1998/2003 State Policy Guidelines.

Commenting on the dominant Golkar's decision to renominate Soeharto, Amien said the MPR should also consider external voices other than the formal political organization as an input for next year's presidential election.

"The MPR should be able to catch the informal messages of the people and then respond to their aspirations," he said.

"Renominating President Soeharto would only mean that we (people) turn him (Soeharto) into a cult figure," he added.

Soeharto said earlier this month that he did not want people to turn him into a cult figure. He also told Golkar over the weekend to reconfirm its decision to renominate him with its followers.

Amien, chairman of the 28-million strong Muhammadiyah Moslem Organization, said he believed that there are many people eligible for the presidency.

"I think there are many Indonesians who have the capacity equal to first president Sukarno and incumbent President Soeharto," he said. "The only thing to do is to give them (the eligible candidates) the opportunity."

Indonesia's first minister of finance under President Soeharto's New Order government, Frans Seda, shared Amien's opinion that the younger generation lack the opportunity to lead the country.

He challenged Indonesian youth to take up the opportunity presented by President Soeharto.

"I believe the Indonesian younger generation are capable of presidency," he told reporters after addressing a seminar on Globalization and Nationalism at the Atma Jaya Catholic University here yesterday.

Vice president

The chairman of the Supreme Advisory Council, Sudomo, said yesterday that the opportunity was not totally closed for incumbent vice president Try Sutrisno's reelection.

"Although there has been no vice president reelected for a second consecutive term in our history, the constitution does not rule out the opportunity for an incumbent vice president to be reelected," he said.

"It is also lawful for anybody or any institution to nominate any name for vice presidency," he said, referring to Golkar's West Kalimantan chapter, which has declared Try Sutrisno its vice presidential candidate.

The Armed Forces (ABRI) MPR faction yesterday backed Golkar's bid to deliberate a decree giving extra power to the next president.

"The 1945 Constitution already gives huge power to the president, but it is not enough to enable him or her to take immediate measures when the country is endangered," a spokesman for the Armed Forces faction, Gen. Wiranto, told a plenary session of the Assembly's working committee.

Golkar decided last month that it would introduce the security decree in response to President Soeharto's suggestion during a crash course for new legislators that it should reinstate the extra power.

Wiranto, also Army Chief of Staff, said the Armed Forces shared Soeharto's concern. He said the extra power would anticipate the side effects of globalization and public dynamism which might bear seeds of social unrest.

The chairman of Golkar's MPR faction, Ginadjar Kartasasmita, yesterday denied allegations that the political group had met before yesterday with the Armed Forces to discuss the proposal.

"Each faction has the right to draw up its own proposals. Of course we consult our proposals with other factions, not only the Armed Forces," Ginandjar said.

Minority factions the United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) did not follow in the footsteps of the Armed Forces, but said they were ready to deliberate the proposal.

The ABRI faction also suggested that the presidential term should not be limited.

"Any limitation would mean limiting the MPR's authority to elect the country's best candidate for presidency," Wiranto said. (imn/amd/aan)