Amin wants poll on Soeharto's reelection

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)