PPP breaks ranks on Soeharto speech

JAKARTA (JP): The United Development Party (PPP) withheld its endorsement of President Soeharto's leadership accountability statement yesterday, saying it would announce its stand after the final debate scheduled for Monday.

The other four factions in the People's Consultative Assembly, the dominant Golkar, the Armed Forces (ABRI), the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and regional representatives, predictably accepted it.

The factions that make up the 1,000-strong Assembly exchanged views yesterday on the President's speech delivered on Sunday.

The Moslem-oriented PPP argued that President Soeharto had failed to give a crystal-clear explanation about issues such as the current economic crisis, poor law enforcement, corruption in the bureaucracy and the painfully slow pace of political change.

Golkar, the powerful ABRI and the regional representatives considered President Soeharto's achievement satisfactory and unconditionally accepted his accountability statement that ran to 2,234 pages.

Dubbed the "government factions", the three reaffirmed their support for Soeharto and B.J. Habibie for the presidency and vice presidency for the next five-year term.

They also bade farewell to outgoing Vice President Try Sutrisno and thanked him for his service.

While critical of many government policies, PDI also endorsed the President's speech of accountability but vowed it would press for clean governance and political reform.

PPP and PDI have both thrown their weight behind Soeharto's renomination.

Very surprised

PPP spokesman Alfian Darmawan told a plenary session that the Moslem-oriented party was "very surprised" to learn that the President did not provide a complete account about basic issues which his government had not properly addressed.

"Up to this moment, the PPP has not seen the 'good and clean' governance the people have always idealized," he said.

He pointed out that the root of the problem was the widespread corruption, collusion, manipulation and nepotism within the bureaucracy.

PPP, which has 134 representatives in the Assembly, said the government appeared disoriented about how the deteriorating economic crisis should be solved.

"Government officials are in disarray because they are yet to find out the cause of the crisis but they have to calm the people who are seeing that the economy is about to collapse," he said.

The rupiah has depreciated more than 300 percent against the U.S. dollar since the economic turmoil began last July, sending countless companies to the brink of bankruptcy and pushing prices sky high.

Skyrocketing prices of essential commodities have sparked food riots in more than 20 cities across the country over the past month.

Students in Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta and Surabaya and several towns in Central Java, have staged rallies on their campuses to demand that the government do more to lower prices and that the Assembly elect a new president and vice president.

The PPP said top government officials' past claim that Indonesia's economic fundamentals were "solid" turned out to be wrong.

"They used to claim our economic foundations were as strong as concrete but everyone sees them crumbling like a paper house," Alfian said.

Another basic flaw in Soeharto's statement, according to PPP, was his overly heavy emphasis on economic growth while somewhat ignoring the unequal distribution of the development cake.

This, Alfian said, had resulted in most economic resources being controlled by a handful of conglomerates.

Stable rupiah

The PDI faction demanded that the government should announce very soon its long-awaited decision on how it would stabilize the rupiah.

"Since the government signed an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Jan. 15, the economic crisis has not shown signs of abating; it is only worsening," faction spokesman Bambang Mintoko said.

Frustrated by the deteriorating crisis despite the IMF rescue package, Soeharto is considering an "IMF-Plus" scheme by which -- in addition to implementing reforms as the IMF recommends -- the rupiah will be pegged at certain rate against the greenback.

The government has given confusing signals about the plan amid strong opposition from international donors.

PDI reiterated its demand for political reforms that it believes are vital for the country to emerge from the crisis that is taking its greatest toll on the poor.

Political reform, Bambang said, was needed to promote the development of democracy which had often been hampered by incidents such as the banning of artistic performances and the muzzling of government critics.

Praise

Golkar, ABRI and the regional representatives highlighted the successes of the Soeharto administration in the development of various sectors.

Golkar faction spokesman Ary Mardjono said Golkar fully supported President Soeharto's "IMF-Plus" formula to overcome the economic crisis.

The faction said the government deserved applause for what it saw as "serious efforts" to create clean, efficient and respectable governance.

"The nation's development will succeed only if it is backed by capable and honest bureaucrats," said another Golkar spokesman, Fahmi Idris.

Golkar said that between 1994 and 1997, most development targets were achieved while others could not be achieved because of the economic crisis and last year's drought.

ABRI spokesman Hari Sabarno praised President Soeharto for "honestly" admitting that the current crisis happened because the Indonesian economy was not strong enough to resist external pressures and for promising to do everything possible to end it.

The faction backed the government's short-term plans to create jobs for those dismissed by their bankrupt companies and to procure medical supplies.

The regional representatives, made up of governors, regional military commanders, informal leaders and government officials, expressed their concern over the economic crisis that had ruined the results of the development programs the New Order government had implemented.

Faction spokesman Soewardi said the crisis had triggered massive unemployment that would burden the next government. (pan/byg/imn)