Harmoko won't meet VP criteria: Sudomo

Harmoko won't meet VP criteria: Sudomo

JAKARTA (JP): The field for the vice presidency appeared to
narrow yesterday when the chairman of the presidential Supreme
Advisory Council, Sudomo, indicated that Golkar chairman Harmoko
would not meet the criteria for a new vice president.

Sudomo, who reports directly to the President on state
policies, said the next vice president -- if there is a new one
-- would be younger than incumbent Try Sutrisno and would be
selected from among the ranks of cabinet members.

Sudomo was commenting yesterday on speculation over the vice
presidency, which has intensified since the dominant Golkar
declared in August that it would renominate President Soeharto
for next year's presidential election.

"If Try Sutrisno is not reelected next year, the next vice
president will be a member of the ministers' squad and someone
who is younger than him," he told reporters prior to leaving his
office next to the State Palace.

Vice President Try Sutrisno was born in 1935.

Asked about the chance Harmoko, born in 1939, had of getting
the post, Sudomo said Harmoko was no longer in the cabinet.
Harmoko was recently elected Speaker of the House of
Representatives (DPR) and the People's Consultative Assembly
(MPR).

Asked about those qualified for the vice presidency, Sudomo
suggested that journalists find their names in the cabinet.

"For instance, Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung, who was
born in 1939, State Minister of National Development Planning
Ginandjar Kartasasmita, born in 1941," he said.

Other cabinet members younger than Try and widely mentioned as
strong candidates include State Minister of Research and
Technology B.J. Habibie, born in 1936; Minister of Information R.
Hartono, born in 1941; Minister of Transmigration Siswono
Yudohusodo, born in 1943; and State Minister of Environment
Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, also born in 1943.

The country's next president will be elected in a general
meeting of the 1,000 strong People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
next March.

The next vice president will be proposed by the Assembly, but
the choice will rest mainly on the elected president. The 1945
Constitution stipulates that a vice president must be able to
cooperate with the elected president.

A political observer of the Semarang-based Diponegoro
University, Soehardjo, called on Assembly members to elect the
vice president carefully, as the future vice president would hold
a strategic position in the post-Soeharto era.

"The next vice president can become a presidential candidate
in the post-Soeharto era," Soehardjo said in Semarang over the
weekend.

Vision

Another political observer from Diponegoro University, Nurdien
H.K., said that in anticipating national and global challenges in
the future, the next vice president should have the same vision
and leadership as President Soeharto.

Nurdien said the chairman of the 28-million strong
Muhammadiyah Moslem Organization, Amien Rais, and the chairman of
the 30-million strong Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Moslem Organization,
Abdurrahman Wahid, were eligible civilian candidates for the vice
presidency.

"Amien and Gus Dur (as Abdurrahman is popularly known) have
experience in leading millions of Muhammadiyah or NU members and
followers.

"Both of them are influential social and religious leaders.
They are also clean and not greedy," he said.

Officials of the Muhammadiyah Central Board yesterday
supported Amien Rais' willingness to be nominated in next year's
presidential election, but insisted that the Muhammadiyah
chairman had spoken in his personal capacity and did not
represent the organization.

Deputy chairman of the Muhammadiyah Council of Graduate
Studies Achmad Mursidi said he saluted Amien Rais for his courage
and readiness to be nominated for president.

"But Muhammadiyah as an organization will not support his
standing nor his statement," he said.

Syafii Maarif, Muhammadiyah central board's deputy chairman,
said Amien's statement would not disrupt the unity of the
organization nor affect its relationship with the government.

"There has been no problem with the government ensuing Amien's
statement. Why should we dispute his position?" he asked.

He agreed that Amien spoke in his personal capacity.

Heated

Abdurrahman called on NU members to remain wary of the heated
political situation while approaching next year's MPR assembly.

"Riots, rivalry among the country's political elite, rumors on
vice presidential candidates and speculation on President
Soeharto's condition have added to the already heated political
climate," he said in a seminar in Surabaya yesterday.

Abdurrahman said that NU would maintain its independence from
the bureaucracy and formal political institutions.

"We (NU members) have accepted our role as the state security
guards. And we are concerned about the state's security and
order," he said. (imn/har/nur)