National leaders' terms of office too long: Expert

National leaders' terms of office too long: Expert

YOGYAKARTA (JP): A scholar of the 28-million strong Muhammadiyah Moslem organization has called for a limitation on the length of time national leaders should remain in office in order to prevent the emergence of a "stuffy political atmosphere".

Ahmad Syafii Maarif, the deputy chairman of the organization and a professor at the Sunan Kalijaga State Institute for Islamic Studies here, said the call wouldn't be necessary if the position of national leader was merely a symbol and not a governor.

Speaking at Muhammadiyah University on Wednesday, Syafii cited the heads of state of England, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and the Netherlands as examples of national leaders who are little more than figureheads.

Syafii, a noted political commentator, pointed out the need to learn from the history of Islamic kingdoms of how the failure to limit the leaders' period in office eventually caused the downfall of the leaders themselves.

"What's interesting is how this anti-theist political system was maintained by the classical Moslem experts as something which was religiously correct," he said.

Syafii, who obtained his doctorate at Chicago University in 1982 and is a visiting professor at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, did not make specific references to Indonesia. Muhammadiyah did, however, in 1993 grabbed nationwide attention when a leading member, Amien Rais, brought up the issue of the national leadership succession.

Amien, who is currently chairman of Muhammadiyah, campaigned at the time for public discussion about the then politically taboo subject. "We have to have a succession in 1998," Amien has said.

The issue snowballed, and discussions on the presidential succession as well as limits to presidency started to abound. They, however, have not stopped various groups in society from promoting the re-election of President Soeharto for his seventh consecutive term.

Some organizations affiliated to the ruling Golkar, several cabinet ministers, as well as the legion of Indonesian veterans have openly asked that Soeharto "allow" himself to be nominated for the presidency again in 1998.

Eligible citizens will cast their votes in 1997, while 74-year-old President Soeharto appears to have no contender at present.

Soeharto was re-elected in March 1993 for his sixth consecutive term by a vote of acclamation of the 1,000-member People's Consultative Assembly. He was the sole candidate in the election, as he was in 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983 and 1988.

On Wednesday Syafii criticized Moslems who use Islam as a means to meet their sometimes "immoral" interests, such as their greed for power.

He also lashed out at those who pay more attention toward petty matters rather than substantial issues such as backwardness, poverty, social and political injustice and economic diversity in society.

"It's why Moslems, who used to be civilized world leaders, have for centuries been lagging behind (in global development)," he said. (har/swe)