Observers tell Megawati to be ready for task ahead

JAKARTA (JP): Political observers urged the nation on Thursday to ignore President Abdurrahman Wahid's political maneuvers and instead focus on the future by identifying the priorities needed to be tackled by a new government.

In a news briefing at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies on Monday which signaled little faith in the survival of Abdurrahman's administration, political observers J. Kristiadi, Rizal Mallarangeng and Hadi Soesastro urged potential successors to prepare themselves and get down to work immediately after a transition of power occurred during the special session of the People's Consultative Assembly.

"We have to set our eyes on the future, we cannot continue to react to Gus Dur's threats, because we have seen the process and we can identify who is going to lose," Rizal Mallarangeng said, referring to Abdurrahman by his nickname.

"It is almost impossible not to have Megawati as president," Rizal added.

The nation has been witness in recent weeks to a series of threats from the President, who has warned of imposing a state of emergency and dissolving the legislature if the Assembly in its impending special session forges ahead with seeking his accountability.

Should his accountability be rejected, Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri would assume the role of president.

Given what he believes to be this inevitable outcome, Rizal said it was more important now for Megawati to prepare herself for the task ahead with concrete plans, rather than becoming entangled in political bickering.

"Megawati should reveal her concepts and focus on the government. She also has to set new methods to reach these goals. Megawati cannot effort to fail because her failure would ruin the whole country," Rizal said.

"She has to be prepared because in every change there's always a political honeymoon, after which people resume their criticism, so we have to set what should be done in the immediate future," he added.

J. Kristiadi concurred, saying that Abdurrahman will not survive the Assembly special session and only a miracle could help him survive the scrutiny of the Assembly.

"What we have to focus on now is that the people have the right to ensure that the upcoming Assembly special session will bring about good measures for the country and not turn out to be another political deception," Kristiadi said.

He cited the 1999 Assembly special session which swept aside Megawati from the presidential seat even though her party had won the most votes in the general election.

"That kind of political maneuver should not happen again because we have seen that such a move only worsens the country's crisis," Kristiadi said.

Economist Hadi Soesastro said the new government should realize that it was in a race against time, so it must immediately start to determine what actions should be taken and the policy choices which lie before it.

"The days of the current government are numbered, so we have to figure out what must be done after the new government is elected," Hadi underlined.

He underlined the need to build good governance to regain public and market trust. (dja)