Emil calls on MPR to listen to people's voices
Emil calls on MPR to listen to people's voices
JAKARTA (JP): Former cabinet minister Emil Salim called on the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) faction leaders yesterday to
respect public aspirations and allow members to express different
opinions regarding the vice presidential election.
Emil, who is mounting a challenge for the vice presidency
despite having practically no chance of success given the
Assembly's support for B.J. Habibie, said that if Indonesia
wished to develop democracy the Assembly should listen to
different opinions.
"The Constitution mandates that (the candidate) with the most
votes is elected. If we have more than one vice presidential
candidate, it does not mean we are against democracy," Emil said
after attending the inauguration of the Non-Aligned Movement
Center for South-South Technical Cooperation in Central Jakarta.
"The Assembly has 1,000 members. Wouldn't it be better to give
them the opportunity to air their opinions? Respect those who
come such a long way to be here," he said.
"Once every five years the people choose their
representatives, and now their representatives gather. Wouldn't
it be better if the factions listen to their members first?" he
said.
Emil, former state minister of population and environment,
said the vice presidential election should be a bottom-up
decision, not a top-down diktat.
Emil is among the several names suggested by various groups as
the best person to be Indonesia's next vice president. Others
include human rights activist Baharuddin Lopa, United Development
Party chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum and chairman of the 28-
million-strong Moslem organization Muhammadiyah, Amien Rais.
In the few days remaining before the General Session of the
Assembly begins Sunday, however, Emil is the only name that still
reverberates as a potential contender.
Faction leaders in the Assembly, however, have ordered their
members not to support Emil and have threatened them with
dismissal if they dissent.
Separately, senior politician Supeni called on the 1,000-
strong Assembly to heed the people's aspirations for more than
one vice presidential nomination.
"Are they (the Assembly members) so deaf that they are unable
to hear the people's voices?" she asked.
Supeni, chairwoman of the Indonesian Nationalists Association,
demanded that the Assembly explain why it has been "ignoring" the
people's calls.
"If the Assembly members disliked the candidates put forward
by groups in society, they should explain the reasons why," said
Supeni, an Indonesian ambassador-at-large under the late
president Sukarno.
The five factions in the assembly -- Golkar, the United
Development Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party, the Armed
Forces and the regional representatives -- have unanimously
renominated incumbent Soeharto for the presidency and Habibie,
the state minister of research and technology, for the vice
presidency. (imn/prb)