Democracy new to us: Soeharto
Democracy new to us: Soeharto
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto said yesterday that Indonesia
has much to learn about applying modern democracy to cope with
its problems.
"We are aware that the democratic tradition is something which
is relatively new to us," Soeharto said at the opening of the
third congress of the Moslem-oriented United Development Party
(PPP).
About 1,000 party members, senior government officials and
leaders of other political organizations attended the grand
ceremony at the posh Jakarta Hilton Convention center, built for
the 1993 Non-Aligned Movement Summit.
The four-day gathering continued at the Pondok Gede Haj
Dormitory in East Jakarta. In the coming days, participants will
review the party's statutes, adopt new programs and elect the new
leadership.
The congress opened amid a storm of protests from the news
media as the party's headquarters rejected dozens of journalists
assigned to cover the congress which takes place once every five
years.
Soeharto said Indonesia had to learn how to operate modern,
democratic institutions and apply the new tradition to the local
culture.
He said that democracy at the national level is much more
complicated than in traditional villages where people can
participate directly in the decision making process.
Modern democracy, he said, involves more people with different
aspirations, interests, customs, religions and culture.
"They all need equal attention and problems have to be solved
in a wise and just manner," he said.
Soeharto warned that a multi-ethnic and multi-religious
Indonesia would face irreparable disintegration if the different
groups cared only for their own interests.
The President said he hoped that PPP and the other political
organizations, PDI (Indonesian Democratic Party) and Golkar,
could also function as people's educational institutions in
politics.
As a channel for the people's aspirations, PPP should
formulate and implement clear programs, goals and political
ethics, he said.
The promotion of democracy was also the focus of PPP chairman
Ismail Hasan Metareum's opening speech, which extolled the
virtues of the government's successes in development.
"PPP will try to make sure that democracy will not turn into
anarchy," said Ismail Hasan, who is widely believed to have the
government's and military's support to retain his post for
another five years.
"Anarchy will bring instability and destruction, not
development as everyone expects," he added.
Ismail Hasan, who was widely criticized by his supporters for
openly condoning the government's closure of three news weeklies
in June, said that only responsible openness would give rise to
the growth of democracy. "Responsible openness will enable people
to have quality initiatives and try to mutually understand
different views."
Protest
The presence of numerous government and Armed Forces (ABRI)
officials at the start of the congress raised the question of how
far they would interfere on the selection of the new party
chairman.
The government -- which has provided the bulk of the money to
finance the Rp 1 billion ($476,000) gathering -- has pledged to
stay out of the party's internal affairs.
In his address, Soeharto made no statements which would
suggest that the government planned to intervene in the party's
election.
Chief of ABRI's socio-political affairs, Lt. Gen. R. Hartono,
reiterated the military's neutral stance. "ABRI will endorse
anyone that the congress elects," he told reporters when asked
whom ABRI would like to see lead PPP.
Megawati Soekarnoputri, chairperson of the minority PDI party,
said she hoped there would be no government interference in the
PPP's congress. Megawati's own election last year was not fully
endorsed by the government.(pan)