KNPI supports Soeharto with calls for change
KNPI supports Soeharto with calls for change
SURABAYA (JP): The National Youth Committee (KNPI), which is
comprised of youth organizations affiliated with the ruling
Golkar party, renominated Soeharto on Saturday but remains
critical of his 30-year-old administration.
"We ask Haji Mohammad Soeharto to kindly consider our
request," the committee said in a statement released at the end
of its national workshop that brought together 300 members here.
The support for Soeharto was just one point of a political
statement signed by committee chief Tubagus Haryono and
secretary-general A.H. Mujib Rohmat and released at the end of
the three-day gathering.
The committee said the nation still needs Soeharto at the helm
to ensure the continuation of its development. It noted, however,
that development gains are not possible without the participation
of the people.
So far, about 20 organizations and individuals affiliated with
Golkar have announced their support for Soeharto's re-election
bid.
The People's Consultative Assembly will elect a president in
1998. So far, only progressive activists from the Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI) have come up with an "alternative"
candidate in its chief, Megawati Soekarnoputri.
Tubagus told journalists that the committee is not just
following in the steps of the other Golkar-affiliated groups.
"This is a proper forum to voice our long-time desire to propose
President Soeharto's re-election," he said.
Reliable workshop sources told The Jakarta Post that the move
to renominate was spearheaded by the committee's East Java branch
and key central executives. It was not in the original agenda.
In spite of its support for Soeharto, the political statement
contained a number of criticisms of the bureaucracy.
The bureaucracy is ridden with widespread illegal levies,
corruption, manipulation and collusion -- the ills that "do not
allow the quality of development to improve," read the statement.
The committee urged the government to weed out its corrupt
practices and uphold the rule of law.
"The practices hurt the nation's development as a whole. There
should be serious efforts to create a clean government," the
statement said.
The government should be transparent about the implementation
of its policies and loosen its grip on power to allow all
supervision institutions to function as expected, it said.
On the 1997 general election, it noted that the three
contestants -- Golkar, the PDI and the United Development Party
-- should not taint the "fiesta of democracy" with empty
promises.
"They should quit their old habit of telling lies to voters.
Instead, they should have the courage to straighten development
policies and offer realistic programs," the statement said.
The youth committee also supports the proposal of the National
Commission on Human Rights that Indonesia scrap the controversial
subversion law on the grounds that the legacy of the Old Order,
when it was drafted, encourages the violation of human rights.
(15/pan)