Analyst calls for greater role for VP
Analyst calls for greater role for VP
JAKARTA (JP): A political analyst at a military think-tank
suggested Indonesia give its next vice president a bigger role to
play to help reduce President Soeharto's workload.
Vice governor of the National Resilience Institute, Juwono
Sudarsono, said here yesterday that the next vice president
should have more power because of Soeharto's advancing age.
Soeharto turned 76 in June this year. He has led the country
for 30 years since becoming acting president in 1967.
"The next vice president should be able to help reduce Pak
Harto's daily burden," Juwono was quoted by Antara as saying
after the commemoration of the 95th anniversary of Indonesia's
first vice president, the late Mohammad Hatta.
According to Juwono, the incumbent Vice President Try Sutrisno
has already been given a greater say compared to his
predecessors.
"Most likely the next vice president's responsibilities will
be even greater because he should be able to really help the
President," he said.
Juwono said he was confident that Soeharto will choose exactly
the right man to be vice president.
Next March, the 1,000-strong People's Consultative Assembly
(MPR) will convene, draft the new broad guidelines of state
policy and elect a president and vice president.
It is a foregone conclusion that Soeharto will be reelected
for a seventh consecutive term, so public debate has focused on
who will be second in charge, and on whether the person should
come from the military or be a civilian.
Names that have been cited as potential vice presidential
candidates are Minister of Information R. Hartono, State Minister
of National Development Planning Ginandjar Kartasasmita and State
Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie
Some analysts have suggested a scenario which sees President
Soeharto elected again but stepping down halfway through his term
to open the way for the vice president become president.
Critics
Juwono also said Indonesians should emulate the tolerance of
their founding fathers Sukarno and Hatta, who never treated
critics as enemies.
Juwono, who is also a professor of social and political
science at the University of Indonesia, said Indonesia needed to
cultivate a similar tolerance for criticism. He said not many
people had showed the ability to accepting disagreements with no
ill feeling.
Sukarno and Hatta proclaimed Indonesia's independence in 1945
and became Indonesia's first president and vice president.
"Not many people today have the character of someone like Bung
Karno and Bung Hatta, who could ... disagree with each other
without harboring ill feelings," Juwono was quoted by Antara as
saying. "It is difficult for someone to resign from a position
without it being seen as an act of ill-will."
He said Hatta's 1956 resignation from the office of vice
president was because he increasingly disagreed with Sukarno's
policies.
He said he believed there were opportunities for people to
criticize the current government, as long as the criticism was
delivered "in the proper way and with good manners".
"Officials are human beings, who do not wish to be shamed in
public," he said.
He said Soeharto had often accepted criticism and suggestions
from many people, both officials and retired officials, but not
through the press.
"The way the criticism is offered should be good and
effective, in ways that he (Soeharto) can accept," he said. (swe)