MPR sets up committee to elect president and VP

MPR sets up committee to elect president and VP

JAKARTA (JP): The general session of the People's Consultative
Assembly (MPR) concluded yesterday the establishment of a
complete lineup of the Assembly's working committee whose tasks
will include electing a president and vice president.

Forty-five people are included in the Assembly's working
committee, whose elected chairman is Poedjono Pranjoto, while
another 45 will act as reserves.

The working committee will later be divided into two groups.
One will be in charge of drawing up and deliberating state
policies, the other will deal with other matters including
establishing MPR decrees on various subjects.

The Assembly will regroup in March to endorse the State Policy
Guidelines and elect a president and vice president.

The dominant Golkar faction topped the lists of both permanent
and reserve committees. There are 25 of its legislators in the
permanent committee and 26 reserves.

The regional representatives faction, which includes
appointees from various provinces, came second with seven
legislators for permanent committees and six reserves.

The United Development Party (PPP) faction came third with six
legislators for each committee. The Armed Forces (ABRI) faction
was next, fielding five legislators in each committee.

The Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) faction was a distant
end-runner with two legislators in each committee.

Golkar's lists of legislators in the two committees come from
a diverse educational and occupational background.

For instance, cabinet ministers such as Minister of Manpower
Abdul Latief and Minister of Information R. Hartono. Golkar also
fielded noted academicians such as political observers Juwono
Sudarsono and Amir Santoso, Moslem scholar Quraish Shihab and
microbiologist Pratiwi Sudharmono.

Golkar's lists also included two of President Soeharto's
children -- Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana and Bambang Trihatmodjo.

The Armed Forces' working committee members include Army Chief
of Staff Gen. Wiranto and assistant to the Armed Forces Chief of
Sociopolitical Affairs Maj. Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Both the PPP and PDI working committees include their senior
legislators, while the regional representatives faction's team
includes several governors from Indonesia's 27 provinces.

Earlier yesterday, the 1,000 MPR members saw the induction of
Golkar chairman Harmoko as speaker of the House of
Representatives (DPR) and the MPR for the 1997/2002 term.

The Assembly also saw the induction of five deputies of
Harmoko: Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid of ABRI faction, Abdul Gafur of
Golkar, Ismail Hasan Metareum of PPP, Fatimah Achmad of PDI and
Poedjono Pranjoto of the regional representatives faction.
(imn/amd)