'MPR has no problems with Soeharto'

JAKARTA (JP): The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) has never considered, much less discussed, holding a special session to assess the capability of President Soeharto, according to Deputy Speaker Ismail Hasan Metareum.

Ismail, also chairman of the United Development Party, said yesterday the assembly's leadership had not found any crucial problems concerning President Soeharto's capability to carry out his administrative and stately duties to justify bringing him before an extraordinary session.

"We all see that President Soeharto is healthy and has succeeded in clearing many problems so far," Ismail said after concluding a PPP leadership meeting.

"He (Soeharto) has managed to carry out his job well. It's all up to him whether he agrees or not to run for another term of presidency," Ismail said.

The People's Consultative Assembly comprises 500 members of the House of Representatives and 500 representatives of various regions, professions and mass organizations. They convene every five years to deliberate the guidelines of state policies and elect the President and Vice President.

Ismail was commenting on Soeharto's statement made Friday that he was willing to step down only in a constitutional way.

Soeharto said he would clobber anybody who tried to use unconstitutional means to unseat him. It was his second warning, with the first issued upon arrival from his East European outing in 1989.

Soeharto became acting president in 1967 and assumed full leadership the following year. In 1972, the People's Consultative Assembly which was established by the 1971 general election, elected him. So far, he has been elected five times.

Ismail said that Soeharto's remarks should motivate the consultative assembly to act within the constitutional frame as well.

Ismail added that he has no ideas about groups or individuals Soeharto referred to in his statement made before prospective haj pilgrims in the newly-opened haj dormitory in Boyolali, Central Java.

Arbi Sanit, a lecturer at the Jakarta-based University of Indonesia's School of Social and Political Sciences, said Soeharto's failure to identify any specific individuals or groups could mean that he was responding to escalating criticism toward the government in general.

"He was warned about escalating criticism toward the government. In the past, critics came from the elite circle (of society), but now they include all elements," Arbi said.

Arbi said that the government's weaknesses that drew criticism have now ranged from the mediocrity of officials to the military's ineffectiveness in settling the recent riots.

Soeharto's remarks have left some people guessing as to whom he was threatening to clobber. Critical Moslem scholar Amien Rais, who just relinquished his leading position at the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI), has expressed disbelief that he was the one targeted.

Politician Sri Bintang Pamungkas believed Soeharto could have referred to him and his Indonesian Democratic Union Party (PUDI), a certain military group, separatist groups or other mass organizations.

Bintang was found guilty by a Jakarta district court of insulting the President in several speeches he delivered during a visit to Germany in 1995. His first appeal was turned down by the Jakarta High Court. He is appealing the ruling at the Supreme Court.

Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung recently accused PUDI of masterminding a series of riots that rocked the country in the past five months.

Bintang said he wished to challenge Soeharto for the presidential post for the 1998-2003 period. (05/amd)