Kingmaker Rais now wants to be king
Kingmaker Rais now wants to be king
Kingmaker Rais wants to be king
Victor Tjahjadi
Agence France-Presse
Yogyakarta
Indonesia's consummate political kingmaker Amien Rais now wants
to be king himself.
"I will leave my position as kingmaker and try to be king
myself," he told AFP in an interview in which he outlined his
strategy to do just that.
Rais, a U.S.-educated former Muslim leader, was speaking
during a campaign tour for his National Mandate Party (PAN)
before the April 5 general election. The country's first direct
presidential election will follow on July 5.
Rais, who credited his father with instilling him with self-
confidence, showed he has not lost that trait.
"My chances are at least 50:50 because we will have a direct
presidential election ... and I believe that the people are
critical and prudent enough to elect their president," he said.
As head of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) which
formerly selected presidents, Rais in 1999 led an Islamic
coalition which crushed Megawati Sukarnoputri's bid on grounds
that a woman should not become president.
Abdurrahman Wahid was installed instead. But less than two
years later Rais played a major role in the MPR's sacking of
Wahid and the elevation of his deputy Megawati to the top spot.
Despite his credentials as an opponent of military-backed
dictator Suharto in the 1990s, Rais said he wants to team up with
a running mate with a military background for the presidential
poll.
"I want to see this country strong, stable and respectable.
Only by having a strong military as the backbone of national
defense will Indonesia be stable and respected by the
international community," he said in the interview Sunday.
He also gave a more pragmatic reason.
"It is much better to embrace the military people into the
power circle rather than exclude them from the circle. If they
are suffering from a post-power syndrome, they may become
troublemakers," he said.
Rais, 59, said he and his party have not yet agreed who should
be invited to run as vice-president on his ticket.
But he said he considered retired general and Transportation
Minister Agum Gumelar as a "respectable and winnable"
possibility.
Rais, a Muslim intellectual, led the country's second largest
Islamic organization Muhammadiyah until he founded PAN in 1998.
But he said he would not run with another Muslim leader
because "this ticket does not sell. A coalition of two Muslim
leaders is not very effective."
In the year before Suharto stepped down in May 1998, Rais
gained credit for his public stand against corruption and in
favor of greater democracy.
And the man who has been accused by some critics of political
opportunism insisted he would never form a coalition with pro-
Suharto forces.
Suharto's eldest daughter, Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti Rukmana,
has set up the Concern for the Nation Functional Party and it
wants her to run for president.
"I may be wrong but I'm very convinced that the (pro-Suharto)
forces are dying. So there is no need for us to give them a new
life. Let them die naturally," Rais said.
Rais pledged to crack down on corruption and collusion,
calling it "a chronic disease." He also promised a hardline
stance, including enforcing the death sentence, against
terrorists who have plagued Indonesia in recent years.
"To me, I don't care where the terrorists come from and who
they are ... Muslims, Christians, Buddhists or Hindus... I will
punish them severely because terrorism is a crime against
humanity," he said.