Indonesia has many potential leaders: Roeslan
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia, with a population of over 195 million, has a large base of potential leaders, and thus should not be dependent on one figurehead alone.
Roeslan Abdulgani said here on Saturday that the country should not fear the future, because its large population and revolutionary history provides fertile ground for the birth of leaders.
Responding to questions from the press after speaking at a seminar, Roeslan dispelled fears that the eventual succession of the national leadership would not go smoothly.
The 81-year-old former minister of foreign affairs also maintained that people should not focus on a person so much that it leads to obsession and a cult of personality.
"Don't attribute the nation's leadership to just one person," remarked Roeslan, who in the 1950s and 1960s held various governmental posts including vice-chairman of the Supreme Advisory Council and deputy prime minister.
The issue of a successor to President Soeharto has been a recurring topic with the approach of next year's election.
Soeharto, who has held six consecutive presidential terms, last week said that he has never personally sought reelection and that it has always been the prerogative of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to select a president.
When asked by journalists, Roeslan declined to directly comment on Soeharto's statement, but underlined the fact that Soeharto said the selection was up to MPR.
"I really don't want to comment about it...But what's clear is that the nation's leadership is not limited to just one person. Indonesia has many capable potential leaders," he said.
Roeslan was among the two main speakers at a seminar organized by the Indonesian Democratic Party to commemorate its anniversary, celebrated yesterday.
The seminar was organized under the theme "Pancasila, Individualism and Globalization." The other speaker was economic analyst Christianto Wibisono.
Without elaborating, Roeslan remarked that there were groups in society with an interest in maintaining the status quo who were directly opposed to those demanding changes as the country heads into the 1997 elections.
Meanwhile, Christianto, while speaking on the socioeconomic aspects of the seminar's theme, also noted the need for Indonesian society to move away from paternalistic tendencies in many facets of life.
"Indonesia must undergo a cultural transformation, changing its irrational, feudalistic and primitive way of thought, which lauds paternalism and premodern etatism," he said
He remarked that Indonesia must free its political system from being held "hostage" by certain individualists who abuse their authority for personal, family or group interests. (mds)