Ex-activists group backs Soeharto's renomination
Ex-activists group backs Soeharto's renomination
JAKARTA (JP): Former student activists grouped in the Keluarga
Besar Laskar Arief Rachman Hakim have expressed their
determination to back renomination of President Soeharto for a
seventh term in 1998.
The ex-activists aired their support for Soeharto's
renomination at the end of their three-day congress yesterday.
Keluarga Besar Laskar Arief Rachman Hakim is an organization
of former student leaders who played a major role in Soeharto's
rise to power in 1966.
"President Soeharto's reelection will guarantee the
continuation of development programs and will guarantee that
national leadership remains in the hands of the New Order
government," the organization said in a statement read out by
deputy chairman Arief Biki.
The leadership meeting was closed by State Minister of Public
Housing Akbar Tandjung, who is also a senior member of the
organization.
The 1,000-member People's Consultative Assembly will convene
in 1998 to elect a new president and adopt the 1998-2003
guidelines of state policy, as well as review laws proposed by
political parties.
The ex-student activists' petition was only the latest show of
support for Soeharto's reelection. On Wednesday, the Association
of Indonesian Retailers and Department Store Managers submitted a
similar petition to the House of Representatives.
Numerous organizations affiliated with the ruling Golkar,
along with several cabinet ministers and the Legion of Indonesian
Veterans have openly called on the People's Consultative Assembly
to reelect Soeharto, now 75.
Soeharto was reelected in March 1993 for his sixth consecutive
term. He has been in power practically unchallenged for almost 30
years.
As in the past, the debate has reemerged on whether
Indonesia's next president should be a civilian or someone with a
military background.
The latest debate was fueled by State Minister of Research and
Technology B.J. Habibie, who said in an interview with the Forum
Keadilan by-weekly the future president does not have to be
someone from the military.
Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security
Soesilo Soedarman and former vice-president Sudharmono have
stated that civilian and military personnel have an equal
opportunity to be nominated as presidential candidates in 1998.
Soeharto, a former army general, became Indonesia's second
president in 1968, replacing the country's founding father,
Sukarno, who was a civilian.
The former student leaders organization also pledged yesterday
to remain supportive of the New Order's development programs and
poverty eradication campaign.
They reiterated their stand to reject communism, Marxism,
Leninism and other ideologies contradictory to the state
ideology, Pancasila, and the 1945 Constitution.
The organization also expressed its support for the Armed
Forces' Dwifungsi, or Dual Function, which allows it to play
politics.
At the end of their statement, the former student activists
denounced widespread corruption and collusion in the bureaucracy.
They appealed to the government to do something to end practices
involving corruption and collusion.
"Despite of the country's success in its development programs,
we still see violations of rules and authority," said the
petition.
"We call on the government to take firm action against those
involved in corruption, collusion and other illegal practices,"
it said. (imn)