Habibie receives more support for another term

JAKARTA (JP): The ruling Golkar party is set to nominate incumbent President B.J. Habibie for a second term despite criticisms targeted at both Habibie and Golkar.

At the ongoing national party congress, the Golkar provincial chapters nominated Habibie as their preferred candidate ahead of five other nominees.

A final candidate will be decided at a forthcoming Golkar leadership meeting.

Golkar Chairman, also Minister/State Secretary Akbar Tandjung, said Habibie secured support from at least 17 provinces with more endorsement pending.

"Golkar's central board will respect and accommodate all aspirations from the grassroots. There will be no other alternative for us but to pick Habibie's name to be nominated for his second term of office," he said in a congress break at Hotel Indonesia, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday.

Earlier reports quoting Akbar and other Golkar officials that Habibie was their favored presidential candidate, provoked an angry response from executives of Golkar provincial chapters, who said chapters had yet to name their candidates.

The People's Consultative Assembly in its special session last October decided that Habibie's first period would conclude at the Assembly's General Session scheduled for November.

Akbar said that besides Habibie, support from chapters in the congress was extended to Gen. Wiranto, currently minister of defense and security/Armed Forces commander and Akbar himself.

"But it would be better for me not to run for the presidency."

Akbar said the congress has yet to decide on whether the party's planned leadership meeting, in which a single candidate will be announced, will be held before or after the June 7 polls.

Minister of Home Affairs Syarwan Hamid reiterated the importance of the upcoming elections and called on citizens to support the government's commitment to a free and fair general election.

"If the elections fail, people will certainly run amok and national unity will be at stake," he said after a ceremony marking the establishment of the regencies of Balige-Samosir and Maindailing Natal on Tuesday.

Ichlasul Amal, political lecturer and rector of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, urged the government to allow the 12 parties which failed to qualify, to contend the polls. He said the criteria deployed by the screening committee, the Team of Eleven, was not objective.

"If the 12 parties have supporters in two big cities, they should be allowed to contest the election," he said.

The 12 parties, including Indonesian Republic Party and Party for Improving The People's Minds, lodged a protest with the General Election Institute.

Meanwhile in Central Java, Golkar Party yellow flags positioned along roads were removed by an unidentified group of people.

Eka Hardiyanto, a member of the Golkar faction at the Tegal regency legislative council, said in Tegal on Tuesday that more than 2,000 Golkar flags placed along the road between Tegal and Brebes were removed.

"We received information that the flags were removed by a group of people in trucks with symbols of the PDI Perjuangan," he said, referring to the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle.

Eka added, "For the time being, we will not report the case to police as we fear new conflict ... we will not take revenge".

In Cilacap, around 300 Golkar flags hung in several streets in the city were also reportedly removed by another group of people at night.

In Magelang, hundreds of Golkar flags and banners were also taken down and burned. Mardiono, of the Golkar secretariat in Magelang, said the incident was reported to police.

"We know who's behind the looting and burning," he said without elaborating.

In Salatiga, also in Central Java, Fuad Hasyim, an executive of the provincial chapter of Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Muslim organization, lamented clerics and Muslim leaders who badmouthed those of other Muslim oriented parties.

"They should explain their programs," he said.

Also on Tuesday the Yomiuri Shimbun daily reported that Japan is to extend financial aid to support the polls.

The aid would exceed the US$9.12 million Japan dispensed to support Cambodia's general election last July. The amount of aid had not been decided.

Separately Antara reported from New York that chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN) Amien Rais failed to meet United States Vice President Al Gore because of the latter's tight schedule. Their Washington meeting was scheduled for Monday.

Amien, accompanied by five party officials, was welcomed by an official of the U.S. National Security Agency, James Steinbeck and an assistant of the vice president.

Amien provided a rundown on Indonesian issues, specifically those relating to the general election, East Timor and the crisis in Ambon.

Facing criticism back home for his requests for help from the United States, Amien urged the U.S. government to support the democratization process and not to express its preference on any presidential candidate.

"Whatever will be done by the U.S. government will have a large impact on the political situation in Indonesia," he told Antara.

Commenting on Amien's statement, which requested the United States intervene for moral reasons in Ambon, Steinbeck said the problem should be solved domestically without any foreign intervention. (21/45/har/rms)