PPP opts to wait and see on presidential candidate

PPP opts to wait and see on presidential candidate

JAKARTA (JP): Despite prolonged debate, the United Development
Party (PPP) failed to agree yesterday on its presidential
candidate and deferred the job of announcing the name to chairman
Ismail Hasan Metareum.

Ismail told a press conference he would announce the party's
nominee "at the right time". He refused to elaborate, except to
say that the presidential election for the 1998/2003 period could
take place only next March.

The decision not to unveil the presidential and vice
presidential candidates was unanimously endorsed by party
executives attending a leadership meeting which ended late Monday
night, according to Ismail.

"There were various opinions during the meeting, but finally
party executives gave me the mandate not to announce our
presidential candidate," Ismail said.

The meeting was extended a full day until Monday, but even
that was not enough for party leaders to break the deadlock.

Ismail dismissed yesterday speculations that lingering doubts
about the health of red-hot favorite President Soeharto was
behind PPP's excuse to wait for the right time to announce its
presidential candidate.

"We all have seen that President Soeharto is healthy. He
received a number of cabinet ministers while taking a rest,"
Ismail said.

A team of presidential doctors advised 76-year-old Soeharto on
Dec. 5 to have a 10-day rest. It was not clear if the rest
included holidays.

Support has been growing for Soeharto to take his seventh
five-year term. The dominant Golkar is the only political group
to have officially nominated Soeharto.

The 1,000-strong People's Consultative Assembly will convene
here from March 1 to March 11 to elect a president and a vice
president. The election of a president usually takes place on
March 10, while the vice presidential election is held the day
after the Assembly's consultation with the elected president.

PPP deputy chairman Jusuf Syakir said the party's decision was
a compromise of three options suggested during the meeting.

He said a provincial branch insisted on nominating popular
government critic and chairman of Muhammadiyah Moslem
organization Amien Rais for the presidency, six others urged the
party to support incumbent Soeharto and the remaining 20 deferred
the decision to Ismail.

"We are trying to avoid a split in the party," said Jusuf, who
also leads the PPP faction in the Assembly.

The Moslem-based party also confirmed its support for its
representatives in the Assembly who are presently deliberating
the draft 1998/2003 State Policy Guidelines.

"We ask our representatives to continue their struggle to
relay the party's aspirations on general election rules,
political reform, exclusion of nondenominational faith from
religious development, and human rights protection," PPP
secretary-general Tosari Wijaya read the party's statement.

Commenting on the monetary crisis, PPP urged the government to
accelerate its anticorruption and anticollusion campaign, ease
liquidity and cut interest rates.

The party also urged the government to introduce a law to
encourage cooperation between big and small scale businesses,
control private loans and ask Indonesians with overseas savings
to withdraw their funds for domestic investment. (amd)