Military sets criteria for next president

Military sets criteria for next president

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Military (TNI) has set four
criteria for the presidency for the next five years, a decisive
period for the nation's future, a senior military official said
on Wednesday.

TNI Chief of Territorial Affairs Lt. Gen. Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono said according to the criteria, the next president
should be able to lead the nation and maintain national unity,
defuse the prolonged economic and political crisis and be widely
accepted.

"The military does not care who will be the next president --
civilian or military. The most important thing is that he/she
meets the criteria," he said at the establishment of the Center
for Government and Political Ethics Studies (Puskap) at the Hotel
Indonesia in Central Jakarta.

Susilo said that the criteria was set on the basis of the
special conditions the nation would face within the next five
years.

The next president will be required to have an ability in
handling troubled provinces that demand independence and in
defusing the economic and political crisis, he said.

The general said that the military has until November to
announce its presidential and vice presidential candidates when
the People's Consultative Assembly's General Session is
scheduled.

"TNI will channel its aspiration on that matter through its 38
representatives in the 700-member Assembly," he said.

He also said on Monday that the military would accept if
Megawati Soekarnoputri, chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and Amien Rais, chairman of
the National Mandate Party (PAN), were chosen.

TNI Commander Gen. Wiranto has been named by the Golkar Party
and many other minority political parties as their vice
presidential candidate for the 1999-2004 period.

Separately, noted Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid and
Minister of Horticulture A.M. Saefuddin agreed that the next
president should be honest and wise with a strong commitment to
fight against prevalent corruption, collusion and nepotism.

Nurcholish said that the next president should have such a
strong commitment because the main agenda of the reform movement
was to battle against corruption, collusion and nepotism.

"Such a criterium should be imposed on our next president
because it was the reform movement's main agenda to eradicate
corruption, collusion and nepotism," he said in a seminar on
Wednesday on the nation's next leader.

Saefuddin blamed former president Soeharto for the current
turmoil of power abuses.

Political ethics

Meanwhile, Ryaas Rasyid, director general for public
administration and regional autonomy at the Home Affairs
Ministry, said that the Center for Government and Political
Ethics Studies was established to promote the political ethics
among government officials and politicians and to help uphold the
social justice.

"The center in cooperation with local and international
agencies will organize seminars, workshops and discussions and
publish books on political ethics to promote the code of it," he
said.

He insisted the importance of introducing comprehensive
political ethics to improve people's political sensitivity. He
cited for an example that nepotism is prohibited not by law but
political ethics.

Ryaas, who is also the center's executive director, said that
corruption, collusion and nepotism were prevalent during the New
Order era because of the ignorance of political ethics. (rms/01)