Saefuddin challenges rivals to open debate

Saefuddin challenges rivals to open debate

JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Food and Horticulture A.M.
Saefuddin has challenged anybody aspiring to become the next
president to an open debate, Antara said.

Saefuddin, who is a senior member of the United Development
Party (PPP) and said to be the strongest contender to be the next
party chairman, said any presidential aspirants should prove
their mettle by engaging in a public debate.

"So far, Amien Rais (National Mandate Party (PAN)), Megawati
Soekarnoputri (Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI)), and A.M.
Saefuddin have named ourselves as presidential candidates," he
said. "These candidates should debate state affairs, and
economic, legal and other aspects of life," he said.

"Those who balk at this challenge are not good prospective
leaders, and do not deserve the position, because that would mean
that they are introverts," he said.

"Mega, for example, should back off if she refuses an open
debate," he said.

Amien Rais has recently delivered the same invitation to a
public debate to Megawati, who has not yet given any public
response.

"Any national debate of presidential aspirants should be
broadcast live by all television stations, and covered by
newspapers and other media, and not only as a one-time deal," he
said.

Saefuddin, who expressed his intention to run for the
presidency last week, also said there should be more than one
candidate in the next presidential election. "This tradition of
having only one candidate is really boring," he said. "We should
have three to five candidates."

He said he named himself a presidential candidate because he
wanted to facilitate democratization. "I am serious in preparing
myself for that position," he said. "I already have programs, and
I have delineated them in my book, A.M. Saefuddin Terpanggil
(A.M. Saefuddin's Calling)."

"Being a PPP leader or a president, that's no big deal. So I'm
ready," he said last week when stating his intention to run for
the country's highest office.

He said he would fight for democratization, respect for human
rights, economic development that was in favor of the common
people, the repositioning of the Armed Forces in society and the
restoration of people's dignity.

During the New Order regime under former president Soeharto,
the Moslem-based PPP was often treated unfavorably by the
administration to ensure it did not grow too big and supplant the
government-backed Golkar.

In 1997 the general election, PPP won 25 million votes or
22.66 percent, a distant second behind Golkar which got 74.27
percent of the vote. The Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI)
trailed badly with only 3.07 percent of the vote.

In the next polls planned for next year, more parties will
participate, but PPP leaders believe their party will still win
at least 20 percent of the vote.

"We're not afraid of the emergence of new parties in this
reform era, because we have fanatical supporters and cadres,'
said deputy secretary-general M.H. Abduh Paddare in Banjarmasin,
South Kalimantan, on Saturday.

"We are not concerned about party members who jump ship and
joined other parties," he said. "That's entirely their right."

Political observer Nur A. Fadhil Lubis from the State
Institute for Islamic Studies in Medan, North Sumatra, said the
competition in the next general election would be extremely stiff
because of the many parties intending to contest it.

"Even if the next poll proceeds in an honest, fair, direct,
and confidential manner, no party will be able to obtain the
dominant position the way Golkar did in previous general
elections," Lubis was quoted by Antara as saying.

Lubis believed the poll would see the emergence of five main
parties: PAN, the Nahdlatul Ulama-affiliated National Awakening
Party (PKB), the PDI faction under Megawati, the bureaucracy-
backed Golkar, and the Crescent and Star Party (PBB) led by law
professor Yusril Ihza Mahendra.

Lubis said one of the reasons why those parties would obtain
the most votes was because Indonesian culture was still by nature
patrimonial which stressed the importance of public figures.

"Golkar still has the best resources by far," Lubis said.
(swe)