Profiles of the prominent players in the MPR General Session
Profiles of the prominent players in the MPR General Session
JAKARTA (JP): No one would mistake the General Session of the
People's Consultative Assembly for any sort of game, but it could
certainly help one understand the process if one looks at it that
way.
The General Session is indeed a political game, and each
player's strength can be read by many people. Golkar is the
dominant force, enjoying the support of its formidable allies:
the Armed Forces and the regional representatives factions.
The Moslem-based United Development Party (PPP) may be bigger
this time around, but its ranks look puny when compared to
Golkar's. The other minority faction, the conflict-ridden
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), will be present to maintain a
semblance of balance even though it will have very few members
representing its faction.
Even Golkar, however, has its own weaknesses. It cannot
survive without the support of the Armed Forces and it certainly
only runs on the command of its chief patron, President Soeharto.
The following are some of the players who will take leading
roles in the General Session.
Harmoko of the Golkar faction:
Harmoko is speaker of both the House of Representatives and
the People's Consultative Assembly, as well as chairman of the
dominant Golkar grouping. Together with B.J. Habibie, he was
initially named as a Golkar vice presidential nominee.
Harmoko later stepped aside and left the coast clear for
Habibie, claiming he did so out of big-heartedness. "I am legowo
(being graceful about the situation)," he said.
Born in the East Java town of Nganjuk on Feb. 7, 1939, Harmoko
served as minister of information for 14 years before he was
replaced last June by R. Hartono. He was then assigned as state
minister for special assignments until October when he assumed
his current legislative post.
As both information minister and Golkar chairman, Harmoko
conducted an annual extensive tour during Ramadhan last year. The
"Safari Ramadhan" was meant to observe how people, especially in
rural areas, have fared from development programs.
Some people, however, suspected that Harmoko used the
opportunity to garner support for Golkar as the general election
in May approached. Minority parties PPP and PDI expressed outrage
over the alleged electioneering.
Ginandjar Kartasasmita of the Golkar faction:
Some people have joked that State Minister of National
Development Planning Ginandjar is the "former prospective
candidate" for vice president. Ginandjar, who is also Chairman of
the National Development Planning Board, was among several
prominent figures mentioned by some as vice presidential
material.
Along with Harmoko, B.J. Habibie, outgoing Vice President Try
Sutrisno, Minister of Information R. Hartono, Golkar leader Siti
Hardiyanti Rukmana and then Armed Forces commander Gen. Feisal
Tanjung, the 57-year-old Ginandjar was considered to fit the
bill.
When SOKSI, a labor organization affiliated with Golkar, asked
about his willingness to be nominated, Ginandjar said: "If anyone
thinks I deserve to be considered (as vice president), I am happy
and honored ... but we should also realize our limitations. Know
yourself, as Jakartans would say."
Shortly before Golkar officially named Habibie as their man,
Ginandjar called a media conference to announce his unwillingness
to be nominated. He said he did not fit the bill after all.
Ismail Hasan Metareum of the PPP faction:
PPP chairman Ismail once insisted that his brand of leadership
of the party in his second term was to bring a sense of peace and
calm into the fold. Some supported him, while others mocked the
approach as mere meekness before the more powerful Golkar and the
government.
Every once in a while, however, Buya, as he is better known,
surprises the public with strong criticism against Golkar and the
government. He lashed out at corruption and nepotism while
campaigning for the general election last year, but such
criticism faded afterwards.
His name resurfaced recently when PPP named him their
tentative vice presidential candidate, before dropping him in
favor of Habibie.
Born in Sigli, Aceh, on April 4, 1929, he is a 1964 alumnus of
the school of law at the University of Indonesia.
While a student, Buya was known as an activist in several
Moslem youth organizations, including the Indonesian Islamic
Students (PII), the Association of Islamic Students (HMI) and the
Islamic Youth of Indonesia. He was chairman of HMI from 1957 to
1960 and joined the PPP in 1968.
He has been a member of the House of Representatives since
1971 and the PPP chairman since 1989.
Aisyah Aminy of the PPP faction:
Aisyah, one of only a handful of the country's women
politicians, has the ability to tend to several issues at once
and, with a distracted look on her face, then answer reporters'
questions right off the bat. When she leads hearings in the House
of Representatives, where she is the chairwoman of Commission I
on security, defense, law, politics and information, she displays
her power of concentration.
Born in West Sumatra on Dec. 1, 1931, Aisyah Aminy graduated
in 1957 from the Indonesian Islamic University's school of law in
Yogyakarta. She became an Assembly member in 1977.
Jusuf Sjakir of PPP faction:
As a member of the House of Representatives since 1978 and now
the chairman of the PPP faction in the Assembly, Jusuf is no
stranger to the legislative complex on Jl. Gatot Subroto, Central
Jakarta.
As a senior politician -- he has claimed to have been engaged
in political activities since he was a student at Gadjah Mada
University studying literature -- he is known to be overly
cautious when asked to comment about certain government policies.
"He is reachable. But, once when asked for comments on a
particular government policy which he did not like, he was
reluctant," a reporter once said.
Born in the Central Java town of Klaten on Dec. 18, 1934,
Syakir became secretary-general of HMI in 1966. He has also been
an employee at the Ministry of Industry and Trade posted at the
state-owned PN Industri Sandang, and was a teacher at a senior
high school in Yogyakarta.
Fatimah Achmad of the PDI faction:
Fatimah received a hefty share of the political spotlight in
1996 when she and some of her colleagues staged a government-
backed congress that eventually toppled PDI chairwoman Megawati
Soekarnoputri.
The current deputy House speaker has received substantial
criticism for the maneuver, though she had her reasons for the
move at the time. She was also dismissed by Megawati whose
leadership she had no longer recognized. But in many media
conferences, Fatimah was too senior a politician to display any
evidence of being ruffled by the uproar and the fissure in the
party.
Born in Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra, on Aug. 30, 1939 as
the second of nine siblings, Fatimah said politics attracted her
when she was a senior high school student in her hometown.
In 1957, she joined the Democratic Youth in Simalungun, and
continued to be so engrossed in political activities that she did
not have time to marry. She is a foster mother to a number of
children, however.
Hari Sabarno of the Armed Forces faction:
Hari Sabarno shot into greater prominence when he was
appointed chairman of the Armed Forces faction in the House of
Representatives last year, replacing his colleague Suparman
Achmad.
Born in the Central Java city of Surakarta on Aug.1, 1944, Lt.
Gen. Hari Sabarno became a member of the House in 1993. He was
appointed vice chairman of his faction in 1995 and coordinated
the political affairs and security section. He is also a member
of the 1997/2002 House of Representatives, and currently is the
deputy chairman of the Assembly's working committee representing
the Armed Forces faction.
He graduated from the National Military Academy in 1967. He
was assistant for social and political affairs to the chief of
staff of the Siliwangi Regional Military Command from 1989 to
1990 and the commander of Cirebon's 063 military unit from 1990
to 1993.
During 1993 and 1994, he was deputy assistant for social and
political affairs to the Armed Forces chief for social and
political affairs. In 1994, he was appointed assistant for social
and political affairs to the Armed Forces chief of sociopolitical
affairs.
Yunus Yosfiah of the Armed Forces faction:
Born in Rapang on Aug. 7, 1944, Armed Forces Chief for Social
and Political Affairs Yunus Yosfiah is now chairman of the
Assembly's Armed Forces faction.
A recent statement by Yunus on how solid the Armed Forces
faction remained was likely meant to end speculation that not all
of the faction members supported civilian B.J. Habibie as the
faction's vice presidential candidate.
"As chairman of the faction, I'm confident that we vote as
one," said the 1965 graduate of the National Military Academy.
That is why, he said, the faction needed a special statement
of support from its members saying that they would not nominate
another person other than Habibie.
Hasan Basri Durin of the regional representatives faction:
The former governor of West Sumatra is now chairman of the
Assembly's regional representatives faction.
Born in the West Sumatra town of Padangpanjang on Jan. 5,
1935, Hasan Basri is a 1960 graduate of Gadjah Mada University's
school of social and political sciences in Yogyakarta.
He ended his tenure as governor only last December. (swa)