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)