School graduate may fit presidency

School graduate may fit presidency

JAKARTA: National Mandate Party (PAN) Chairman Amien Rais
suggested here on Tuesday that politicians adopt a flexible stand
on the minimum education requirement for presidential and vice
presidential candidates.

Amien argued that while a university degree was no guarantee
of a good leader, as evidenced by the number of the nation's
prominent leaders who do not have a degree.

"So, let's be flexible about the minimum education
requirements. Indeed, even a professor may lack leadership
skills," Amien, who is also the People's Consultative Assembly
(MPR) speaker.

Amien earned a doctorate from a university in the United
States.

His statement came amid a debate sparked by Golkar, which
proposed that presidential and vice presidential candidates be
university graduates. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI Perjuangan), whose leader and incumbent President Megawati
Soekarnoputri never earned a university degree, rejected the
proposal. -- Antara