Orderly succession expected

Orderly succession expected

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto, currently in his sixth five-
year term, reaffirmed over the weekend that Indonesia already has
a well established mechanism for choosing its president based on
the 1945 Constitution.

"The people should not worry too much and unnecessarily make
much noise about the need for searching for a new president,"
Soeharto was quoted as saying on Saturday.

The 73-year-old leader made the remarks, the second time he
has mentioned the succession debate in less than two weeks, when
he met with Soeprapto, the chairman of the Central Advisory Board
for the Propagation of Pancasila, and Alwi Dahlan, the board's
deputy chairman, at the Cendana residence. Pancasila is the state
ideology.

The succession mechanism is implemented through the general
elections held every five years, which is fully in line with the
Constitution, the President was quoted by Dahlan as saying.

Dahlan said Soeharto was concerned that a group of young
people seemed not to understand the 1945 Constitution fully.

Dahlan quoted Soeharto as saying, "They hold the misperception
that Indonesia always maintains the status quo by electing the
same president every five years."

He said the President deplored the erroneous notion among
those young people who think that because the leadership post has
been consistently filled by one man there has not been any change
in Indonesia.

In fact, there has always been a change brought about by the
general elections every five years, as reflected in the new Broad
Guidelines of State Policies, Soeharto was further quoted by
Dahlan as explaining.

Indonesia's general elections, held every five years since the
early 1970s, select members of the House of Representatives and
the People's Consultative Assembly.

The People's Consultative Assembly, which includes the House
members, meets every five years to formulate the Broad Guidelines
of State Policies and to elect a president. The country's five
year development plans, currently in the sixth of the series, are
drawn up based on the Broad Guidelines of State Policies.

Quoting Soeharto, Dahlan further said that within the
Indonesian political system it is the Broad Guidelines of State
Policies that are changed. Only then, will a president be elected
to execute the state policy guidelines.

Mechanism

Soeharto said the mechanism calls for the formulation of the
state policy guidelines first, and then the election of the
person best qualified to execute those guidelines.

"I am only executing what the People's Consultative Assembly
has mandated for me," Soeharto further explained.

Given the misunderstanding and lack of knowledge about the
Constitution and Pancasila, President Soeharto saw it as even
more imperative than ever before to step up the understanding and
implementation of Pancasila.

Asked why Soeharto considered it necessary to reaffirm what he
had stated as recently as Oct.28, Dahlan said the President
always keeps himself appraised of the views circulating in
society and he seemed to detect some misunderstanding and
misperceptions still prevalent about the succession of the
national leadership.

Soeprapto added that in view of the misperception, the
propagation of Pancasila would emphasize the promotion of
knowledge and understanding about the proper implementation of
the Constitution. (vin)