Jumping on the reform bandwagon

Jumping on the reform bandwagon

The current reform drive appears to have been given
considerable added momentum yesterday (Monday) by the House of
Representatives. Amid the cheers of students and leading critics
the chairman and vice chairmen of the House, who have thus far
been accused of dragging their feet and unresponsiveness, issued
a formidable statement.

Flanked by his four deputies -- Syarwan Hamid, Ismail Hasan
Metareum, Fatimah Achmad and Abdul Gafur -- House of
Representatives(DPR)/People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker
Harmoko beat the reform drum with force. For the sake of
preserving the nation's unity and cohesion, Harmoko said,
President Soeharto was requested to exert his wisdom and resign.
Students cheered. Syarwan Hamid held up a thumb for Harmoko.

Pak Harto (President Soeharto) has repeatedly stated that if
the people no longer want him as a leader, he would have no
problem being replaced. He would not use the force of arms to
stay in power. The survival and the well-being of the nation was
more important than anything else. Besides those ethical
considerations, however, Pak Harto also put forth one absolute
condition. Any change, or resignation, or whatever step was to be
taken, had to be accomplished according to the rules as
prescribed by the Constitution.

All kinds of people professing to be proponents of reform are
now vying with each other to be first in acting on the signal
given by President Soeharto. Institutions and government
officials who have thus far been known as antireformist, now
compete with each other to be first to grab the opportunity and
win the legitimacy of being a hero of reform.

For the three terms that he was in office as minister of
information, Harmoko was known as antireformist. He so
tenaciously defended Ministerial Decree No. 01/1984, under which
so many media publications were banned, that the decree has
managed to endure to this day.

As a child of the nation, however, Harmoko obviously has a
right to try to rehabilitate himself. Harmoko wants to have a
degree of significance in this reform tide, although he is now
considered to have transgressed the proper procedures.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta