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)