Habibie receives more support for another term

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)