MPR should have 'more than one' president nominee

MPR should have 'more than one' president nominee

JAKARTA (JP): Even as support grows for incumbent President
Soeharto's renomination for the 1998/2003 presidency, calls began
yesterday that the nation be given alternatives.

Two political observers and a cabinet minister agreed in
separate interviews that next year's presidential election would
be even more democratic if it involved more than one candidate.

Soehardjo of Diponegoro University in Semarang, former
minister of finance Frans Seda and Minister of Defense Edi
Sudradjat were commenting on Monday's proposal by the chief of
the dominant Golkar faction at the House of Representatives,
Moestahid Astari, that Golkar formally announce Soeharto as its
candidate for the presidency next March.

"I think it will be all right if members of the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR) name other people besides Soeharto.
We live in a democratic country, where expressing different
opinions is not forbidden," Soehardjo said in Semarang yesterday.

Frans Seda, the first Indonesian finance minister under the
New Order government in the mid-1960s, challenged the other
factions in the Assembly to announce their own presidential
candidates.

"A president represents all elements of society. Each MPR
faction, therefore, should come forward with their own
presidential candidate," he told reporters after addressing a
seminar on national leadership held by the Institute for
Management Education and Development yesterday.

"Whether all factions eventually nominate the same person is
not a problem. What's important is that they're all given the
opportunity to name their own candidates," he said.

Separately, Minister of Defense Edi Sudradjat said it would be
up to the Assembly whether it would name more than one
presidential candidate.

Frans Seda also suggested yesterday that the new president be
elected through voting in order to guarantee the "constitutional
validity" of the process.

He did not elaborate.

Indonesians stress the importance of deliberation to achieve
consensus in decision-making, whereas voting is frowned upon as
it smacks of Western decision-making methods.

Edi said there was nothing wrong with Moestahid Astari's
proposal to have Golkar announce Soeharto as its candidate as
soon as possible.

He said the proposal was still acceptable under Indonesia's
political ethics.

Separately, Golkar's deputy chairman Agung Laksono maintained
yesterday the organization's support for President Soeharto's
renomination.

"We have several names of presidential candidates, but only
Soeharto meets the requirements," he told reporters at the
Indonesian Young Generation for Reform national congress here
yesterday.

He told the press not to make an issue out of Moestahid's
proposal, saying that it was not extraordinary.

"We (Golkar members) have the same... feeling about the
presidential nomination," he said.

Another political observer of Diponegoro University, Susilo
Utomo, suggested that Golkar also announce its vice presidential
candidate.

"Pak Harto is the dominant candidate for the presidency.
What's left is for Golkar to come up with a person who can work
with Soeharto for the next term," he said.

He mentioned State Minister of Research and Technology B.J.
Habibie, former vice president Sudharmono, incumbent Vice
President Try Sutrisno and State Minister of National Development
Planning Ginandjar Kartasasmita as eligible vice presidential
candidates. (har/amd/imn)