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.