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.