President Habibie losing publicity battle: ICMI
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Ahmad Tirtosudiro, the acting chairman of the Association of Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI), said on Saturday that President Habibie appeared to be losing the publicity battle on the question of his legitimacy.
Ahmad said ICMI, along with many other groups, felt that the transfer from Soeharto to Habibie in May was in accordance with the letters of the 1945 Constitution.
But their views do not entirely prevail and he blamed this partly on the mass media.
"We have to admit that the print and broadcasting media are dominated by those who do not share this view," he said in a media briefing after kicking off ICMI's annual conference.
"We lost in the mass media (battle)," he said.
Ahmad denied that ICMI was supporting Habibie's presidency because the President was its chairman.
"We are independent (of Habibie). If he's right, we support him. If he errs, we criticize him," he said.
Habibie is technically still the chairman of the influential Moslem organization. However, state protocol mandated that he hand over the post to Ahmad, as caretaker, in March after he was appointed vice president.
In the past, ICMI has provided Habibie with the political support.
The conference was opened by Sultan Hamengkubuwono X and attended by more than 300 participants. Several cabinet members also took part, including Muslimin Nasution (forestry), Adi Sasono (cooperatives), AM Saefuddin (food and horticulture), Tuty Alawiyah (women's affairs) and Soleh Shalahuddin (agriculture).
The conference is slated to end on Sunday.
Ahmad ruled out the possibility of turning ICMI into a political party, or of giving its support to any of the old or emerging political parties which are contesting the general election next year.
"But ICMI members are permitted to join any political party of their own choosing," he said. He pointed out that two members, Amien Rais and Yusril Ihza Mahendar, lead, respectively, the People's Mandate Party and the Moon and Crescent Party.
While proclaiming ICMI to be apolitical, Ahmad did comment on the controversial issue of the sociopolitical role of the Armed Forces (ABRI).
Ahmad, a former Army general, said ABRI's role should be retained, albeit in a smaller proportion, but he also insisted that the military also publicly announced that it would not support any of the political parties at the next election.
ICMI would like to see a significant reduction in the number of ABRI seats in the House of Representatives, he said, without committing to any specific figure.
He said an outright elimination of ABRI's sociopolitical role would be detrimental to the country. "We still feel the trauma of a completely civilian government. We have tried it before and it didn't work," he said. The trauma he referred to was the civilian government of president Sukarno in the 1950s and 1960s.
He said the presence of ABRI's officers in civilian posts in central and regional administrations in the future should be limited on a needs basis only. (swa/44/emb)