Regional representatives close door on everyone bar Habibie

JAKARTA (JP): The regional representatives faction followed the ruling Golkar organization yesterday by closing its doors to all other vice presidential nominees apart from B.J. Habibie.

Faction chief Hasan Basri Durin also made clear that all members had reached a consensus to support the Soeharto-Habibie ticket and not to consider any other names.

"There is another name nominated for the vice presidential post, but our faction will stick to the nominations of Soeharto and Habibie only," he said.

Durin was referring to the campaign by The Echo of Civil Society, which has nominated Emil Salim, economist and former minister of environment, for the vice presidency.

The society is a coalition of well-known academics, non- governmental organization activists and noted figures. It claimed to have collected, by March 1, more than 10,000 signatures supporting Emil's nomination.

On Sunday, the group visited the dominant Golkar faction at the Assembly to urge its leaders to nominate Emil along with Habibie. Golkar rejected the suggestion, saying it was sticking with its nomination of Habibie.

Scholar Saparinah Sadli, one of Emil's leading supporters, said "that's it" when asked by The Jakarta Post about what the group planned to do now. Echo organizer Agus Purnomo said however other activities had been planned for the campaign this week, but declined to give details.

Another expression of support for Habibie was given yesterday by Golkar Assembly member Hutomo Mandala Putra. "Let's give him the chance to become the vice president and prove his leadership," said Hutomo, a leading businessman and Soeharto's third son.

Hutomo, who is better known as Tommy, said: "We'll be able to see then whether he can do it or not. Whether he can help the President better."

Wardiman Djojonegoro said that the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI) needed to hold an executive board meeting to elect a new chairman to replace Habibie, should the outgoing state minister of research and technology become the next vice president.

Wardiman, outgoing minister of education and culture and member of ICMI, said the matter may be discussed at the annual ICMI meetings in July and December.

Asked who might replace Habibie, Wardiman said, "I don't know because the matter should be discussed first."

Commenting on rumors that ICMI has its own nominees for the next cabinet, he said, "That is totally coffee-shop gossip."

"ICMI is not a political organization. We all know that it is the President who appoints his ministers," he said.

Asked if 15 ICMI members had been nominated for ministerial posts, he replied, "I said that is coffee-shop gossip. ICMI is different from any coffee shop." (swe/swa)