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)