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)