Golkar dismisses call for poll on next president

JAKARTA (JP): A senior figure of Golkar said yesterday that the dominant political organization would not listen to external criticism of its commitment to renominate Soeharto for the 1998/2003 presidency.

Chairman of the Golkar faction in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Ginandjar Kartasasmita also dismissed the idea of holding a national poll to reconfirm whether Soeharto was the real choice of Indonesians.

"It is not necessary to consider any criticism against Golkar's decision. Golkar will remain committed to its earlier decision to renominate Pak Harto (Soeharto's nickname)," he said here yesterday. "...Golkar won't change its decision."

Soeharto told Golkar leaders last week on Sunday to reconfirm with its followers its decision to renominate him, saying they still had five months before the presidential election in March.

Ginandjar rejected the suggestion of a national poll on the candidacy put forward last Friday by political observer Amien Rais.

"Golkar, through its regional chapters, has conducted internal polls before it came up with one name for president -- H. Muhammad Soeharto (Soeharto's complete name)," he said.

Amien had also called on the Assembly to consider external voices other than the formal political organizations as an input for next year's presidential election.

Philosopher Franz Magnis-Suseno said yesterday he was confident that President Soeharto would be reelected and would not withdraw from the election.

"I believe Pak Harto will be reelected next year, if he is healthy," he said in a discussion with journalists of the Forum for Political Correspondents.

He said it would a waste of people's time to discuss the issue.

"What can you expect from such a dependent legislative body, like our MPR?" he asked.

Members of the 1,000-strong MPR will convene next March to elect a president and vice president and endorse the 1998/2003 State Policy Guidelines.

Magnis-Suseno said the President's instruction to Golkar to recheck its nomination, was actually a message to the people that it was the MPR's authority to decide on the presidency.

He saluted Amien Rais for having the courage to express an opinion different to that of most politicians or political observers, but he said he doubted that a national dialog could be held in the current political situation.

"The government will reject the proposal, on the grounds that polling is not a common political phenomenon in the country," he said.

He also said that such polling should have been held by each political contestant before campaigning for the election.

"It would have been more effective if each contestant named their presidential and vice presidential candidates during their campaign," he said.

A youth wing of Golkar, the Organization of Kosgoro's Young Generation, made a fresh call for Soeharto's renomination yesterday at the end of its four-day leadership meeting in Surabaya.

"We want the MPR to renominate and reelect H. Muhammad Soeharto president for the 1998/2003 term," Maulana Isman, chairman of the Kosgoro's Young Generation, said while reading its political statement.

The organization did not recommend a name for vice-president, but suggested 11 criteria to be used in selecting the country's second top person. These included the need for the candidate to be able to cooperate with the elected president and to be acceptable to all elements of society. (imn/nur)