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)