Megawati calls on the nation to stop denouncing Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): Opposition leader Megawati Soekarnoputri echoed fellow government critic Amien Rais yesterday in urging the nation to show compassion and stop battering fallen president Soeharto.

Megawati, the ousted leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), spoke out against repeating "past mistakes". She was referring to the days in the 1960s when her father, founding president Sukarno, lost power to then Lt. Gen. Soeharto.

"Do we have to heap abuse on the outgoing president every time there is a presidential succession?" she asked in an address to some 2,000 participants in a discussion to commemorate the 53rd anniversary of the state ideology Pancasila here yesterday.

Megawati said it was high time Indonesians stopped the habit of bludgeoning outgoing leaders.

"Do we have to treat former president Soeharto's family (the way the nation) treated us, Sukarno's family, in 1965?" she said.

"Let it be that only I and the rest of Sukarno's family experienced such treatment," she said to warm applause from her audience.

Megawati said denouncing a former state leader was against the state ideology Pancasila. "Do we have to replace our state leaders through such treatment?" she asked. "The country's founding fathers, including first president Sukarno, would have never wanted us to be like that."

Megawati said she realized the risk and political burden she would bear because of the compassionate stance that she was now taking.

"This might make me unpopular among proreform activists," she said, adding that she, however, had told her siblings not to join those who have been denouncing Soeharto and his family.

"No matter how he behaved, he was still the country's second president," she said. "I am saddened by the kind of words some people have been using to denigrate Soeharto and his family."

"Hang Soeharto,"and "Drag Soeharto and his family to court" are among the expressions heard during the three months of demonstrations that preceded his resignation.

On Sunday, Moslem leader Amien Rais called on Indonesians to "forgive" Soeharto, to give him peace of mind now that he has stepped down. Amien's one condition was that Soeharto should donate to the nation any of his wealth which might have been amassed illegally.

"If he could do that, then Insya Allah (God willing), maybe the Indonesian people could find it in their hearts to pardon him," said Amien.

Also yesterday, Megawati discussed her silence during the critical days when people became so restless and the push for reform grew so great that it eventually helped force Soeharto from power.

"It was better then for me to keep silent than to join the moves denouncing (Soeharto)," she said. (imn/byg)