No more privileges for youth leaders
No more privileges for youth leaders
JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman said today's youth leaders should not expect the business privileges and protection which some of their predecessors enjoyed from the government.
Those days are over, Hayono told a leadership meeting of the 1966 Front for Indonesian Youths and Students Movement (KAPPI 1966) on Saturday.
Youth leaders, he said, should strive to become independent.
"Today's young people cannot expect similar privileges and protection given to Aburizal Bakrie and Fahmi Idris in their businesses," he said, referring to two of Indonesia's most successful indigenous entrepreneurs.
He said the young people have to be independent and work hard to secure their future. He did not explain why today's youth leaders cannot have similar privileges, but his statement provoked warm applause from the participants.
Abdullah Puteh, the chairman of KAPPI' 66, supported the minister's statement, saying that young people have to prepare themselves to face the competitive globalization age where privileges "won't be of much help".
"In the free trade era, which will start at the beginning of the next century, only the best products and services will win in open competition," he said.
KAPPI was established in 1965, at a time of great political upheaval, shortly after the abortive coup attempt by the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) on Sept. 30.
At almost the same time, a number of other student movements sprung as a response to the condition. They included the University Students Movement (KAMI), the Indonesian Teachers Movement (KAGI), the Indonesian Workers Movement (KABI), the Indonesian Graduate Students Movement (KASI) and the Indonesian Women Movement (KAWI).
Jointly as KAPPI, later to be referred to also as the 1966 Generation, the movements mobilized massive street protests in 1966 against the president at the time, Sukarno. They demanded that he outlaw the PKI, purge his cabinet of communist elements, and reduce the prices of basic commodities.
Hayono on Saturday used the occasion to jump on the bandwagon of government officials and community figures who have openly called for the re-nomination of President Soeharto in 1998.
"I think President Soeharto is the only person suitable for the post," Hayono told the reporters.
The minister acknowledged the country has other potential candidates, such as Vice President Try Sutrisno, State Minister for Research and Technology B.J. Habibie, and former environment minister Emil Salim. However, "they cannot be compared with President Soeharto," Hayono said.
Hayono also said that the time will come when President Soeharto decides to transfer the post to a suitable successor.
More and more support, either direct or implicit, is being voiced to support President Soeharto's reelection in the 1998 presidential election. Among those early supporters were leaders of the Golkar's youth wing Gakari, chairman of the Supreme Advisory Council Sudomo, and Minister of Transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo.
The KAPPI '66 earlier last week openly expressed its support for Soeharto's reelection.
The KAPPI claims to have members in 26 provinces, yet no exact numbers are available. Around 150 leaders of its central and branch offices take part in the three-day leadership meeting, which will end today.(imn)