'MPR has no problems with Soeharto'

'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)