PAN to se;ect vice presidential candidate
Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar, South Sulawesi
The criteria for the selection of a vice presidential candidate will highlight the three-day national meeting of the National Mandate Party (PAN) here, which will begin on Monday.
"As the presidential candidate position has been decided already, PAN will seek somebody as the running mate of Amien Rais. The meeting will determine the requirements and criteria for the person," PAN's deputy chairman Mohammad Asikin said over the weekend.
Amien, the PAN chairman and the People's Consultative Assembly speaker, has been declared the party's presidential candidate.
Asikin, who is House of Representatives legislator, said the selection of the vice presidential candidate would be up to the PAN's provincial chapters.
Every provincial chapter has the right to propose its own candidate, and the candidate will be selected in accordance with the criteria that will be set during the national meeting.
According to PAN's deputy secretary Abdul Hadi Jamal, the vice presidential candidate could be from another political party.
"We are ready to form a coalition with other parties, so that the vice presidential candidate may come from another group. However, those parties must be in agreement with us on our position regarding the reform movement," said Hadi, referring to civil society, rule of law and the anticorruption drive the nation has been struggling for since the fall of Soeharto in May 1998.
Hadi said that Jusuf Kalla, the Coordinating Minister for Social Welfare and a Golkar Party figure, could likely become a favorite as a vice presidential candidate for PAN.
Golkar Party was formerly the political vehicle of New Order under Soeharto, who ruled for 32 years.
However, Hadi said Kalla's affiliation with Golkar did not matter to PAN.
"He is known as a national figure with an excellent reputation and abilities. He helped resolve sectarian conflicts in the regions, especially Ambon and Poso," said Hadi, referring to bloody conflicts between Muslims and Christians that claimed 8,000 lives and forced hundreds of thousands of others to take refuge between 1999 and 2002.
Upon arrival at Hasanuddin airport here on Sunday morning, Amien had a conversation with Kalla, who happened to visit his hometown Makassar.
"It was an unscheduled meeting, and there was no political deal reached between us," Amien said.
Besides discussing the criteria for the vice presidential candidate, PAN will also decide on an overall strategy for the 2004 general elections and programs to offer during the election campaign.
The event will take place at the Hotel Sahid here, and will be attended by some 2,000 participants from 30 provincial chapters and 360 regental branches.