No need to 'interrupt' leadership election

JAKARTA (JP): Senior Golkar legislator Akbar Tandjung said yesterday that based on the smooth proceedings so far, he saw no reason for anyone to interrupt either the presidential or vice presidential elections.

Akbar told reporters that there should be no arguments against the substance of the state leadership nominations as the Golkar faction had made a commitment on its presidential and vice presidential candidates.

"Golkar legislators will only interrupt the election if there are violations of the (procedural) agreement," he said.

He said that all of Golkar's 588 legislators had unanimously supported the renomination of Soeharto and the nomination of the outgoing State Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie.

He also said that interruptions on the substance should only be delivered by each faction's floor leader.

"Only the floor leaders know about the overall topics being discussed, including the agreement between the five factions in the People's Consultative Assembly," he said.

Akbar said the commitment was needed to respond to speculation that there would be interruptions during Wednesday's vice presidential election.

Speculation on the sidelines of the General Session has been rife that those most likely to interrupt are members of the Golkar faction itself.

Following the adoption of the State Policy Guidelines and other decrees, the focus of the Assembly's work for the remaining two days is the election of the president and vice president.

There are no foreseeable challenges to the election of Soeharto or Habibie because all five Assembly factions have nominated the two as their sole candidates.

Akbar said yesterday the only likely interruption would occur if there were procedural deviations or a need for further clarification on a subject being discussed.

He cited Saturday's interruption in Commission C by Golkar's Fahmi Idris. Fahmi interrupted the United Development Party's Bachtiar Chamsyah as the latter was perceived to be in violation of the allotted time.

Golkar's Hajriyanto Thohari lamented that prohibiting Assembly members from initiating interruptions during proceedings could have an adverse psychological impact.

"They (Assembly members) then might not have the courage to make corrections to the session proceedings, which might be inconsistent with the agreement or the regulations," he said.

He, however, shared Akbar's opinion that interruptions should not question substance which had received the prior consent of the five factions.

"Interruptions on the substance should be held during internal meetings of each faction," he said, "There should not be any more interruptions on the substance in the Assembly's plenary session."

He, furthermore, admitted that Assembly members might have problems with his membership if he dared make an interruption on substantial matters.

"At the very least a legislator will be reprimanded," he said.

A legislator from the Armed Forces faction, Ibrahim Saleh, was dismissed after he interrupted the 1988 vice presidential election. (imn)