Opinions divided on Soeharto's reform offer

Opinions divided on Soeharto's reform offer

JAKARTA (JP): Opinions on President Soeharto's offer to reform
were divided between acceptance without reservation, acceptance
with conditions, and outright rejection yesterday.

Supporters of Megawati Soekarnoputri in the Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI) backed Soeharto's offer for a new general
election, but said it must be held within the next three months.

Leaders of the unrecognized PDI executive board said Megawati
should be immediately reinstated as the rightful leader of the
party to strengthen their electioneering hand.

Megawati herself has yet to give a direct response to
Soeharto's proposals and has maintained silence throughout the
recent political upheaval.

The daughter of former president Sukarno was ousted from the
PDI leadership in 1996 in a government-engineered maneuver. She
was also sidelined from the 1997 general election and the March
meeting of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

The PDI research and development center issued a statement
yesterday signed by Kwik Kian Gie, Mochtar Buchori, Tarto Sudiro,
Sukowaluyo Mintorahardjo, Imam Kadri Suprakto, Subagio Anam and
SGB Tampubolon.

They said Megawati should be included in the Committee for
Reform which Soeharto proposed on Tuesday.

The committee's task should be limited to conducting reviews
of three critical areas: electoral law, the law on political
parties and legislation covering the House of Representatives and
the MPR.

This would allow the general election to take place in two or
three months, the statement said, adding that the PDI should be
led by Megawati not Soerjadi, the government-recognized PDI
chairman.

Kwik added that Megawati intended to run for the presidency.

They dismissed the idea of convening a special session of the
MPR, as demanded by many pro-reform activists.

They said that based on the evidence of the 1997 general
election, the MPR was "legally and morally" defective and
therefore had no legitimacy.

The Presidium for National Reformation Movement, led by former
economic minister Subroto and Dimyati Hartomo, rejected
Soeharto's proposal and insisted that the MPR convene to remove
the President from office, as demanded by students.

"The source of the present crisis is the lack of trust in the
government led by President Soeharto," the presidium said in a
statement.

Only the MPR has the constitutional power to call an early
election. "If President Soeharto's proposal is carried out, that
in itself is a violation of the constitution."

The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said
Soeharto's proposed committee for reform and cabinet reshuffle
should be capable of restoring the domestic and international
confidence required to enable reform to proceed with the desired
effect.

The chamber hoped the President genuinely understood the
people's desire for total reform, and said that if he did, he
could still leave behind a name and legacy that would long be
remembered by the people of this country.

Gakari, an subsidiary organization of Golkar, supported the
plan to set up a reform committee, which it hoped would
accommodate all of society's aspirations for reform.

The Coalition of Indonesian Women for Justice and Democracy
rejected "Reform Soeharto Style" and called for his immediate
resignation.

It also demanded the trial of Soeharto, his family and his
entourage of sycophants.

The coalition criticized Abdurrahman Wahid, Emha Ainun Najib,
Nurcholish Madjid and Amien Rais for being "too willing to
compromise", and for monitoring the situation from a safe
distance in an air-conditioned room.

It denounced the meeting Soeharto held with nine community
leaders, who were all Moslem and all men.

The Academic Community of the Indonesian Christian University
(UKI) in Jakarta rejected Soeharto's proposal to hold an election
soon because it effectively meant that he was disbanding the
current House of Representatives.

It called on the MPR to convene and remove the President and
Vice President and elect replacements.

The Academic Community of the National University in Jakarta
said Soeharto's proposals would only worsen the situation and
demanded that both the President and Vice President stand down.

It suggested that the MPR should convene shortly after their
resignation to elect successors to carry out reform.

A coalition of six human rights groups said Soeharto's
decision to lead the reform program was "a fundamental mistake"
because the national crises, in particular the crises of
legitimacy and confidence, could be traced back to President
Soeharto and the entire national leadership structure.

Establishing a reform committee is in violation of the
constitution because the committee will come to rival existing
institutions such as the House of Representatives, the coalition
led by the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation said.

The other five bodies aligned in the coalition are the
Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP), the Committee for Missing
People and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the People's Democratic
Alliance (Aldera), the Indonesian Journalists Alliance (AJI) and
the Association of Indonesian Advocates (AAI).

They suggested that the MPR convene to remove the President
and Vice President, and form a transitional government and
provisional House of Representatives.

The transitional government should then work to organize a new
election.

The Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) rejected Soeharto's
proposals, saying his government no longer had the moral and
political legitimacy to rule. However, his government does still
have legal legitimacy and the MPR should convene in a special
session to take this back as soon as possible, the organization
said.

The Indonesian Legal and Human Rights Association (PBHI) said
the public should not get caught up in political euphoria
following Soeharto's offer and his attempt to seize the
initiative on reform.

It called on the public to rally behind students who are
insisting that a change in the national leadership is a
prerequisite to democratization in Indonesia.

The Indonesian Nationalist Student Movement (GMNI) rejected
Soeharto's offer and said both the President and Vice President
should resign and make way for a transitional leadership formed
by a meeting of the MPR.

Professors and staff lecturers from the School of Social and
Political Sciences at Pasundan University in Bandung rejected
Soeharto's proposal to establish a reform committee, saying that
it overlapped with the existing legislative body and that it was
simply an attempt to divert pressure for him to resign.

In a statement, the lecturers said they fully supported the
student struggle for "peaceful reformation" and lamented Moslem
leader Abdurrahman Wahid's statement calling on students to stop
protesting.

Twelve professors from Padjadjaran University in Bandung said
the crisis engulfing the country has its roots in a crisis of
confidence in President Soeharto's leadership.

Establishing a reform committee will not solve the problem and
is an unconstitutional move.

The proposal diverts public attention from the national crisis
and has the potential to divide the nation.

They called on the MPR to convene and take back the mandate
given to President Soeharto in March as soon as possible. It also
called on the MPR to bring him to account for the present crisis.

The Forum for Communication, made up of students, alumni and
lecturers from Perbanas Institute, questioned the independence of
members of the reform committee and the process by which they
would be selected.

They also questioned the relevance of the House of
Representatives and the MPR after the new committee has been
established.