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)