Retired generals push for MPR special session

Retired generals push for MPR special session

JAKARTA (JP): A group of 18 retired generals are demanding
that the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) hold an
extraordinary session no later than July to revoke decrees
installing Soeharto as president and B.J. Habibie as vice
president.

The deadline was stipulated in a statement made available to
the press yesterday and signed by the group's coordinator, former
Commander of the Army's Strategic Reserves Lt. Gen. (ret.) Achmad
Kemal Idris.

The statement said they rejected the agreement reached between
the House of Representative and the government that an
extraordinary session be held in six months time.

They argued in their statement that, apart from revoking the
decrees, the Assembly should immediately elect a caretaker
president or presidium.

One of the signatories, Let. Gen. (ret.) Ali Sadikin, said
Soeharto could not simply delegate his presidential mandate to
his deputy.

"Such a sudden presidential succession cannot be held just
like that. It must be held before an extraordinary session of the
MPR," the former governor of Jakarta told The Jakarta Post
yesterday.

"A presidential succession is not like the election of a
village chief. An outgoing president must be held accountable for
all the policies that he or she introduced," he said.

Under intense pressure from mounting protests, Soeharto
resigned May 21 and handed over power to Habibie.

House Speaker Harmoko, after meeting with Habibie on Thursday,
said they had agreed that an extraordinary session of the
Assembly would be held at the end of the year or early next year
to set the date for the polls.

Harmoko also brushed aside suggestions that the extraordinary
session would seek an accountability address from Soeharto.

"We, based on the spirit of total reform, declare our
rejection of the said agreement (between the House leaders and
Habibie)," said the statement from the senior officers of the
Armed Forces' 1945 generation.

They closed their statement, which was signed by Kemal on
Friday, by stating that "the entire reform movement must be
implemented peacefully and constitutionally".

Other signatories of the statement included former Army chiefs
Gen. (ret.) Makmun Murod and Gen. (ret.) Rudini; former Air Force
chief (ret.) Air Marshal Ashadi Tjahjadi; former Police chief
Gen. (ret.) Awaloedin Djamin; former House/Assembly Speaker Lt.
Gen. (ret.) M. Kharis Suhud; former Secretary for National
Development Operations Lt. Gen. (ret.) Solichin G.P.; former
Indonesian Ambassador to the United States Lt. Gen. (ret.) Hasnan
Habib and former chief of the Army's special force (Kopasandha,
now Kopassus) Lt. Gen. (ret.) Leo Lopulisa.

A similar rejection of the agreement between House leaders and
Habibie came from former economic minister Frans Seda.

Frans simply said that waiting to hold the extraordinary
session until the end of this year or even next year was simply
"too long".

But Frans did not specify a particular timeframe for the
Assembly's extraordinary session.

Speaking at a seminar on state ideology Pancasila here
yesterday, Frans said the Assembly's extraordinary session would
be a crucial point for the current transitional government to
counter doubts on its "legality".

He maintained that there was a question of legality
surrounding the current government, which was not only eroding
public trust but also international confidence, evident in the
continued stalling of funds to be disbursed by the International
Monetary Fund.

"The problem is that an international body will only give
financial assistance to a government which is trustworthy," he
said, adding that there should be no detachment in reforming the
economic and political aspects of the nation.

"Fixing politics is part and parcel of remedying the country's
economy," he said. (imn/aan)