Intellectual urges fair play in presidential election

SEMARANG (JP): Respected intellectual Umar Kayam said yesterday Indonesia's political elite needed to cultivate a clear, open and direct presidential candidate selection process.

Kayam, a lecturer at Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada university, said that with the next presidential election only two years away, Indonesia's political elite have been busy formulating selection criteria for the next president.

"They always do this before general elections. But more important than the actual criteria is that they should ensure fair play and openness in the candidate selection process," he told The Jakarta Post.

The People's Consultative Assembly will elect the new president in March 1998. In next year's general elections Golkar, the United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) will contest 425 seats in the House of Representatives.

The 1,000-seat consultative assembly is formed from members of the House of Representatives and appointees from local government and other organizations.

Previously, the names of presidential and vice presidential candidates were made public only a few days prior to presidential election day.

Indonesia's closed political system does not allow the public to see the clear-cut rules in the games played throughout the presidential selection process, said Kayam.

"So making clear rules is more urgent than setting the criteria," he said. "In theory people are encouraged to believe they can have the candidate of their choice, but in reality?" he said without elaborating.

Public figures who have nominated themselves as presidential candidates are controversial politician Sri Bintang Pamungkas, founder of the unrecognized Indonesian Democratic Union Party, and obscure political activist Berar Fathia of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).

PDI chief Megawati Soekarnoputri had been encouraged by her supporters to run for presidency before she was ousted in a government-backed rebel congress in June.

President Soeharto, who has received strong support from many organizations, is widely expected to run for president again in 1998.

Kayam said many politicians have been trumpeting "political openness" but they do not have the guts to do anything about it.

Sri Sumantri, an expert on constitutional law, said the post of vice president will be vital in the future when Indonesia faces increasingly stiff global competition.

Under Indonesian law, the vice president is also elected by the People's Consultative Assembly, after consultation with the president elect. (har/pan)