Hot debate over Soeharto's offer to step aside

Hot debate over Soeharto's offer to step aside

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto's reported remarks that he
was prepared to resign if people no longer trusted him provoked a
wide debate here yesterday, in spite of a correction by Foreign
Minister Ali Alatas from Cairo.

The chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR),
Harmoko, said he hoped to "consult" with Soeharto as soon as the
latter returned from Cairo to discuss the statement.

Harmoko refused to elaborate.

Soeharto, during a meeting with Indonesian community in Cairo
on Wednesday night, said he did not see it as "a problem" if
people no longer trusted him.

His remarks were interpreted by some media here, and picked up
by news agencies later, as if he was prepared to stand down.

But Alatas, who was accompanying Soeharto in Cairo, said
yesterday: "It seems there is some confusion about what has been
said, and what the foreign press has interpreted."

He said that Soeharto had in the past made clear he would not
oppose a call for him to step down if it was made through the
constitution and the country's assembly.

"He (Soeharto) has said on several occasions before that if
the people do not have any trust in me anymore then of course
that is their right, and he would not oppose it as long as it is
done constitutionally. I repeat as long as it is conveyed and
decided upon...through our elected representatives in the
consultative assembly."

With the rioting escalating in Jakarta, a number of
politicians picked up on the theme of resign, and demanded that
the assembly speeded up the process.

Kosgoro, a mass organization affiliated to Golkar, called on
the MPR to hold an extraordinary session to process the motion.

Kosgoro welcomed Soeharto's purported remarks, calling him "a
gentleman, a patriot, a true fighter who always puts the interest
of the people and the country ahead of his own."

In an open letter, Kosgoro appealed to Soeharto and Vice
President B.J. Habibie to "return" the mandate given to them by
the MPR in March through the extraordinary session, Antara
reported.

"This is in line with the President's remarks in Cairo that he
was ready to stand down," said the statement, signed by Kosgoro
chairman Bambang Soeharto and secretary general Effendi Jusuf.

Other Kosgoro leaders were present at the meeting in which the
statement was read before the media. They include former cabinet
ministers Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, Hayono Isman, and Siswono
Yudohusodo.

The statement said Kosgoro members who sit in the MPR will
soon write to the Assembly leadership to hold the extraordinary
session.

It also called for a revamp of the cabinet and make it "free
from elements of corruption, collusion and nepotism."

"This is our way of supporting Pak Harto. It's not to bring
about his downfall, but to save him," Bambang said.

Amien Rais, the chairman of Muhammadiyah, said Soeharto's
statement was not comforting enough and would not likely to calm
public anxiety.

Amien said reading through the remarks, he did not think
Soeharto would step down until after 2003, the year when he
finishes his current seventh five-year term.

"Soeharto has stated on many occasions that he was ready to
step down. But of course he never did," he said in Yogyakarta.

Amien said the government has lost all legitimacy, whether
morally or politically.

A group of public figures, led by human rights lawyer Adnan
Buyung Nasution interrupted a meeting of the leaders of the House
of Representatives, led by speaker Harmoko, to call on the MPR to
set up an interim government to defuse the worsening political
and economic crisis and the spreading riots in the capital rather
than wait for an extraordinary MPR session.

"We must take a short-cut. Now. We are racing against time.
The burning of buildings and shops and the looting in the capital
is spreading.

"We ask you to go and meet Soeharto in Cairo and ask him to
immediately step down. You shouldn't waste time. You should go
now," Buyung said.

Poet Rendra, who joined the group, read a poem dedicated to
four students of Trisakti University who were shot dead by
security forces on Tuesday.

Budi Hardjono, the chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party
Faction in the House, said an extraordinary session of the MPR
could be one solution to the current political impasse.

"When Pak Harto returns, we will ask for his confirmation
about the story. I need to check it first," Budi told reporters.

"If he had decided to step down, then this has to be done and
processed in accordance to the constitution. An extraordinary
session of the MPR is the solution," he said. (team)