'Be independent', Yogie tells mass organizations
'Be independent', Yogie tells mass organizations
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. has said mass organizations should be independent but should also "adhere to the rules."
"All the government wants from mass organizations is their independence in defining and carrying on their activities," Yogie told participants in a week-long congress of the influential cooperative Kosgoro yesterday.
"However, they still have to adhere to the rules and regulations," he added. "We don't want any mass organizations which blindly oppose the government's policies."
He said that the rules and regulations should not be seen as restrictions on their activities, saying that the purpose of these was to "prevent any clashes of interest with other organizations or with greater interests."
Yogie said that allowing any mass organization to become dependent on other bodies, including the government, would be tantamount a time bomb.
"A dependent mass organization will reduce the government's energy and ideas and lower the quality of the government's policies," he said.
He said that the government would not let a mass organization be dependent on it.
Opening the congress on Saturday, Vice President Try Sutrisno told mass and political organizations to be wary of possible conflicts of interest and ideologies in the country's democratization campaign.
"We don't want our nation to be divided into political compartments and separated by conflicts of interest and ideology, as has happened in the past," Try said when opening the congress.
Speaking before a number of cabinet ministers and more than 1,000 thousand members of Kosgoro, Try warned organizations against liberal interpretations of the concepts of freedom of speech and freedom of expression.
"We have made every effort to increase the quality of our democracy so that the people can channel their aspirations in a normal way," he said.
Try said Indonesia is committed to democratization, a proposition he said had been demonstrated by the growth of openness in every aspect of life over the past several years.
He said that article 28 of the 1945 Constitution guarantees the right of every citizen to freedom of speech and expression.
"However, we have to realize that all we want is ... a democracy based on the state ideology Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution, not a liberal democracy, nor a centralized one," he said.
He said democracy here should be developed from Indonesia's own culture and identity. The nation's commitment to Pancasila and the Constitution is non-negotiable, he added.
In another part of his speech, Try called on Kosgoro members to become pioneers of the development of people's economics.
"Kosgoro, which was originally established as a cooperative movement, should be able to instill in its businessmen members a 'spirit of cooperation," he said.
The meeting yesterday was also used as a platform for Kosgoro to express its political aspirations.
The outgoing chairman of Kosgoro, Soeprapto, said the organization would suggest that its parent organization Golkar nominate incumbent President Soeharto for the 1998 presidential election.
"On this occasion, I would like to say that there is no other choice but Soeharto for the next president," he said.
The congress, to conclude on Wednesday, is expected to elect a new chairman.
Five names have been circulating widely as potential chairmen if the organization. They are Soeprapto; Hayono Isman, state minister of youth affairs and sports; Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, state minister of environment; Siswono Yudohusodo, minister of transmigration; and Agung Laksono, a deputy chairman of Golkar.(imn)