Carter meets Habibie, opposition party leaders
JAKARTA (JP): Former United States president Jimmy Carter on Sunday held a series of meetings with President B.J. Habibie and party leaders Amien Rais of the National Mandate Party (PAN) and Megawati Soekarnoputri of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).
The meetings, held just one day before the general election, were meant to ascertain the leading politicians' concepts for the future. Carter is in Indonesia leading a delegation of 100 poll observers.
The meeting with Habibie was also attended by Coordinating Minister for Development Supervision and Administrative Reforms Sastrosoenarto Hartarto, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas, Minister of Finance Bambang Subianto, State Minister of Public Housing Theo L. Sambuaga and Minister of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises Adi Sasono. One of Habibie's assistants, Jimly Asshidiqie, said the meeting did not include discussions on preparations for the polls.
After meeting with Habibie, Carter went to Borobudur Hotel in Central Jakarta to meet with Amien Rais.
Carter asked Amien about his plans if he were elected president and his views on the issues of Aceh and East Timor and his party's proposal for federalism.
"Mr. Carter asked me whether I would invite other state figures to rule and manage the country if I was elected president," Amien said after the meeting.
"And I said 'absolutely'. I told Mr. Carter that I believe in a collective state leadership, while understanding that there are lots of figures that I can cooperate with," he said.
Speaking about the trouble in Aceh, Amien told Carter that the trouble in the province had to be specifically handled after long years of unsettled and delayed solutions. Officials have attributed mounting demands in Aceh for a referendum instead of a general election to unsettled grievances over the 10-year military operation in Aceh.
When Amien first took over the chairmanship of PAN, he raised the issue of federalism but has rarely discussed the topic since critics said such a discussion could lead to disintegration.
Amien told Carter a proposal for a federal state should be further discussed with all elements of the nation. Aceh Governor Syamsuddin Machmud earlier said federalism might be the only way to keep the country from disintegrating.
Meanwhile, Amien reiterated to Carter PAN's commitment to the direct ballot planned for August in East Timor to determine the province's future. "We'll have to respect whatever the result of the direct vote is," he said.
Amien used the meeting to persuade Carter to withhold from issuing "positive" comments about the elections while the process was still ongoing and before ballot counting had begun.
He also briefed Carter about "money politics" in the country.
Carter's met with Megawati at five p.m. The PDI Perjuangan chairwoman, however, did not provide details of the meeting.
"What I have discussed with Mr. Carter is how to make tomorrow's elections honest, fair and democratic," she said after the meeting. (imn)