Parties told to stay committed to reform
Parties told to stay committed to reform
Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
As rivalry is intensifying ahead of the elections, political
groups need to uphold ethics as their reference, otherwise the
country will fall into disintegration, a group of national
figures has said.
The group purported this view in a joint communique they
signed after a discussion here on Saturday.
The communique also urged the whole nation to maintain
security and stability ahead of the general elections scheduled
for April 5.
Signatories included Yogyakarta Governor Hamengkubuwono X,
former home minister Surjadi Soedirdja, former coordinating
minister for the economy, finance, and industry Radius Prawiro,
former Army deputy chief Lt. Gen. (ret) Kiki Syahnakri, Gadjah
Mada University (UGM) lecturer Riswandha Imawan and Aviliani of
the Institute for the Development of Economics and Finance
(Indef).
In their statement, they said there was a possibility of
conflict during the upcoming elections because many political
groups failed to show their maturity and simply struggled for
their own interests.
Smarting from clashes between supporters of the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and Golkar Party that
claimed two lives in Bali in October last year, the General
Elections Commission and all parties contesting this April's
polls signed an agreement to maintain peace.
Despite the promise, police said they remained on alert and
had prepared 180,000 personnel in anticipation of chaos.
During Saturday's meeting, the figures also criticized
political parties for considering people "supporters" instead of
"voters", whose aspirations deserved recognition.
The signatories urged the government to stay neutral during
the elections.
Community and religious leaders were also urged to encourage
the public to use their common sense in determining their
political preference.
They made the calls after concluding that the prolonged multi-
dimensional crisis in Indonesia was a result of moral decadence
and the absence of national character.
In his speech, Hamengkubuwono said the reform movement had not
been able to improve the quality of life of the nation as the
protracted moral crisis had eroded the nation's integrity.
"The multi-dimensional crisis has been worsened by mounting
public distrust in the country's administration," he said,
summarizing the results of the dialog earlier in the day.
Hamengkubuwono -- along with Muslim cleric Abdurrahman "Gus
Dur" Wahid, Muslim scholar Amien Rais and Megawati Soekarnoputri
-- declared a reform agenda in the midst of crisis that led to
the fall of former president Soeharto in 1998.
In an action that demonstrated his moral integrity,
Hamengkubuwono announced on Friday his withdrawal from the Golkar
convention, one day after party chairman Akbar Tandjung was
acquitted of corruption charges.
"The reform movement has not died but has been betrayed by
those who are reluctant to the promote changes and who only seek
power in order to enrich themselves", he said.
He further explained the reform effort had been uprooted from
its principles, namely commitment to change and improvement of
national welfare.
Hamengkubuwono said the reform movement faced uncertainty.
Meanwhile Surjadi called for national reconciliation in the
political, economic, social and cultural fields and a consensus
on strategic issues the nation faced in the coming years.