Golkar and Army to field only one VP candidate

JAKARTA (JP): Dominant political organization Golkar and its traditional allies, the Armed Forces and the bureaucracy, have agreed to name only one candidate for the vice presidency, Golkar chairman Harmoko said yesterday.

Harmoko made the comment to counter speculation that the coalition had been split over the vice presidential nomination.

"There is no reason to worry about our partnership, it's solid (because) it has been tested for a long time. That's why we will only announce one candidate for sure," Harmoko said.

He said the name of the sole candidate would be unveiled in the general session of the People's Consultative Assembly in March as scheduled.

The 1,000-member Assembly will gather here in March to elect a president and vice president.

However, Harmoko did not say whether the coalition -- better known as the Golkar Big Family -- would first consult incumbent President Soeharto, whom they have nominated for the next five- year term, about the vice presidential candidate.

"The only certain thing is that a vice presidential candidate must be approved by the elected president. Now the president hasn't even been elected," he said.

Soeharto chairs the powerful Golkar board of patrons. He announced Tuesday his decision to run in the presidential election in March.

Harmoko said last week after completing a Ramadhan tour through Java that the consultation on the vice presidency with Soeharto would run through Golkar's internal mechanism.

Armed Forces Chief of Sociopolitical Affairs Lt. Gen. Yunus Yosfiah said the Armed Forces welcomed either a military or civilian figure for the vice presidential post.

"It's wrong to assume that a military figure must fill the vice presidential seat to maintain national stability," Yunus said upon closing a course on sociopolitical affairs at the Armed Forces Staff and Command School in Bandung yesterday.

"Let's not exaggerate the issue of civilian and military figures into a polemic," he added.

He said the Armed Forces would announce its vice presidential candidate based on a set of criteria recently announced by Golkar and its allies.

"Our candidate could be either a military or a civilian figure. The requirements will serve as a guideline to select candidates," he said.

One of the requirements is a mastery of science and technology, which many has said points in favor of State Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie who has served in the cabinet for 20 years.

Yunus said the requirement was an inevitable necessity for the country, but it did not refer to a certain name.

"It can be Habibie, or Pak Ginandjar (Kartasasmita)," Yunus said. Ginandjar is the State Minister of National Development Planning. (43/amd)