Elect Muslim son as president: PPP

Elect Muslim son as president: PPP

JAKARTA (JP): United Development Party (PPP) chairman Hamzah
Haz expressed hope on Saturday that all Muslim members of
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) would stand united in the
country's search for and election of a Muslim son as president.

Speaking to journalists after meeting with President B.J.
Habibie at his private residence in Patra Kuningan, South
Jakarta, Hamzah urged the Muslim members not to be swayed by
their faction's position.

"We should nominate a Muslim brother who has the same
platform, mission and vision," said the former state minister of
investment, who resigned from the Cabinet in May.

Political parties are flurrying to seek a way out, or to
benefit from, a possible deadlock in the presidential election
slated for November given predictions that no political party
will win the necessary majority of votes.

Separately on Saturday, National Elections Committee deputy
chairman Hasbalah M. Saad told The Jakarta Post that the June 21
deadline for the announcement of final results could not be met.
Provinces have not met the June 17 deadline to announce final
results.

Despite earlier optimism on the part of the committee, he said
a repeat of the polls in a number of provinces had yet to be
arranged.

By Saturday, several provinces had not completed their
tallies.

The Association of Islamic Students urged on Friday a delay in
the announcement of official results given the many unsettled
problems.

Hamzah's call to nominate a "Muslim son" is in line with a
recommendation from his party that only a male Muslim be
considered for the presidency. Muslim clerics from the
influential Nahdlatul Ulama organization have said the issue of
whether a woman could lead the country is still under debate.

The President has received four leaders of five leading
political parties at his residence since the elections -- Golkar
chairman and former minister/state secretary Akbar Tandjung,
National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman Amien Rais and National
Awakening Party (PKB) founder Abdurrahman Wahid.

Habibie, however, has been unable to persuade Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) chairwoman Megawati
Soekarnoputri to meet with him ever since he replaced president
Soeharto in May last year.

Hamzah maintained the party was firm on its stance to nominate
one of its own for the next president, although a youth group
under PPP on Friday stated support for Habibie.

Golkar, still in third place according to official provisional
tallying, has said its most ideal coalition partner would be
front-runner PDI Perjuangan. But Golkar also said it was
approaching other parties, including PPP.

Hamzah, however, indicated that any support his party might
throw behind Habibie would largely depend on whether the MPR
would accept the President's accountability report during its
General Session in November.

In Jakarta, it appears residents must wait further for results
of the poll in the capital. Vote recounting had not even started
by Saturday. Some mayoralty poll committees have not decided
whether ballots should be reopened or whether they should only
recheck documents of the poll results.

An executive of the Jakarta Provincial Elections Committee,
Muchammad Taufik, said reports of violations and protests from
many political parties were still flowing in.

The Independent Elections Monitoring Committee (KIPP) has
urged the General Elections Commission to immediately issue a
rule to limit parties allowed to protest poll results.

As of Saturday, only three out of five mayoralty poll
committees had sent in results, but one report from South Jakarta
lacked the signatures of representatives of 31 parties.

In a joint statement signed on Friday, the 31 parties said
there were still unsettled violations at the subdistrict level.

"We demand that the recounting process in South Jakarta be
extended until next week to give us more time to check the
violations," said Joes Prananto, the South Jakarta committee
member from the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) said.

He then showed reports from the United Party's Jakarta chapter
which claim ballot boxes at eight subdistricts were either empty,
broken or unlocked after the poll.

Provincial committee chairman Djafar Badjeber said it was
better to practice patience until the matter of violations was
settled.

As of Saturday 8:33 p.m., the General Elections Commission
(KPU) revealed PDI Perjuangan had obtained 20.2 million votes,
and PKB had 10.2 million votes. Golkar had gained 9.6 million
votes, PPP 5.3 million votes, and PAN had 3.7 million votes.
(prb/ind/rms)