Harmoko defends government officials' ethics
JAKARTA (JP): Golkar chairman Harmoko said yesterday that government officials had always maintained their ethics.
He told thousands of enthusiastic yellow-clad supporters in Pekanbaru, Riau, yesterday, that he had ample proof that the Golkar-dominated New Order government had been applying strict ethics.
"There's no reason to doubt that Golkar adheres to a set of ethics in the government to ensure a clean and earnest administration," he said.
He cited the existence of institutions such as the Supreme Audit Body and other monitoring bodies as proof of Golkar's honest governance.
"Governmental ethics require officials to function as both servants of the state and, at the same time, the people," he was quoted by Antara as saying.
"In the context of governmental ethics, the people and the state are equally important. They are both united like the two sides of a coin," Harmoko said.
With his flair for animating the crowd, Harmoko received a great response when he said that officials who delved in corruption would be prosecuted.
"It's clear that Golkar will not compromise with those officials," he said.
Golkar campaigners took to the streets yesterday in Sumatra, Bali, East and West Nusa Tenggara and East Timor.
Ulemas
Golkar was not scheduled to campaign in Java yesterday but its deputy chairwoman Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, President Soeharto's eldest daughter, engaged in high profile meetings. She met East Java's Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) ulemas for a second day running.
Yesterday's meeting in Surabaya was the fourth NU event she had attended in five days.
Hardiyanti has been actively cultivating support for Golkar in Central and East Java. Her stature has been growing in recent months as some have begun lauding her as a possible vice- presidential candidate.
NU chief Abdurrahman Wahid and East Java Governor Basofi Soedirman attended yesterday's meeting.
Hardiyanti rejected suggestions that she had approached the highly influential ulemas to seek support for Golkar in election.
"I am inviting ulemas (to join in development programs) because, according to my father, the role of ulemas is very important. So I'm not doing it just for the sake of a Golkar victory," she said.
She said Soeharto believed the government's development program could not succeed without the ulemas' contributions.
"Such praise is not aimed at pulling ulemas into Golkar," she said. "The ulemas from the PPP (United Development Party), Golkar and the PDI (Indonesian Democratic Party) have an equally big role in the development process." (mds)