Soeharto sets his on terms

Soeharto sets his on terms

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto succumbed yesterday to strong
public pressures for him to resign, but he set his own terms on
how and when he will step down.

It will not be now or anytime soon. And he will not resign per
se but will make way for a successor.

Soeharto proposed to hold a new general election soon and then
convene a meeting of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to
elect the president.

"I don't wish to be nominated again for president," he said in
a televised statement to the nation.

A reform committee will be set up comprising public figures
and experts from universities. It will draw up new laws on
elections, political parties and the formation of the House of
Representatives (DPR) and People's Consultative Assembly (MPR),
as well as a host of other pieces of legislation demanded by the
people.

A general election, based on the new electoral law to be
endorsed by the current House of Representatives, should be held
soon and the MPR will reconvene to draw up new State Policy
Guidelines and elect a new president and vice president, he said.

Soeharto said he would soon reshuffle his cabinet and name it
the Reform Cabinet to replace the present Seventh Development
Cabinet.

He met earlier with nine public figures, including one of his
staunchest critics Abdurrahman Wahid -- also known as Gus Dur --
to discuss the latest developments in the country, including the
need for reform.

During that meeting, which lasted for two and a half hours at
the Merdeka Palace, the participants categorically stated that
the President should resign immediately, Moslem intellectual
Nurcholish Madjid said.

Nurcholish said Ali Yafie, a respected ulema, even spelled out
for the President that "reform means you have to resign".

Other leaders taking part were poet Emha Ainun Nadjib, Moslem
leader Anwar Haryono, intellectual Malik Fajar, constitutional
law expert Yusril Ihza Mahendra, and Maruf Amin, Cholil Baidowi
and Ahmad Bagdja, all from the Moslem organization Nahdlatul
Ulama (NU) led by Abdurrahman.

Abdurrahman, who came in a wheel chair, endorsed Soeharto's
offers and called on students to stop their demonstrations.

"You've achieved your goal, the President is going to resign,"
he said as reported on television after Soeharto's announcement.

Asked if they felt that Soeharto's offer to resign was
genuine, both Yusril and Nurcholish said the President repeatedly
stated: "I've had it with being a President."

Yusril predicted that an election could be held within six
months, possibly sooner, depending on the House of
Representatives' ability to process the new pieces of
legislation.

Nurcholish said Soeharto virtually agreed to all their
demands, except for him to resign immediately.

It was not immediately clear how the nine men were selected
for the meeting.

Soeharto's strongest critics, such as Amien Rais, Megawati
Soekarnoputri and Emil Salim -- who have been most active and
vocal in pushing for reform -- were noticeably absent.

But leaders of the Armed Forces (ABRI), including its
commander Gen. Wiranto and Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto, the chief
of the Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), were present.

Soeharto said he had no qualms about having to resign.

"The question is, if I resigned, would it solve the problems?

"If I haven't made any decision about resigning yet, that is
not because I don't want to, but because I want to see that the
Constitution is upheld," he said.

He recalled his response to various proposals by the political
forces and mass organizations this year urging him to serve a
seventh five-year term.

"I asked then whether the people of Indonesia still trusted me
since I was already 77 years old?"

Given that all the factions had insisted that this was what
the majority of Indonesians had wanted, Soeharto said: "I
accepted out of a sense of responsibility, especially since the
nation has been engulfed by the crisis. If I had rejected it, I
would be shirking my responsibility."

Soeharto said if he resigned immediately, then the
Constitution required that the vice president took over.

"Would this solve the problem? There'll be more protests for
him to resign, and this will go on and on. This will set a
precedent ... our country will be chaotic because it has no
foundation which protects the existence of the state."

Indonesians have the Pancasila and 1945 Constitution, he said.

"If we don't hold on to the Constitution, what will become of
the country? ... It can lead to a bigger conflict, bloodshed and
possibly even a civil war."

Soeharto then called on the nation to think carefully, and not
emotionally, about his proposals for reform and his eventual
resignation, which he said were in the interest of the nation.

"Let's not waste all the sacrifices that our forefathers have
made for this country because that would be disrespectful of
those heroes who have given their everything for the republic.

"Think of the fate of the country and the nation. Think of the
safety of our people."

Soeharto appealed for people's understanding and said there
should not be a shred of doubt about his intention to step down.

He said he intended to become an ordinary citizen. "It is not
necessarily a less respectable role, as long as one could
continue to dedicate his services to the nation and country."

"I hope for the understanding of all the people. Stop those
actions that have caused misery to our people, the provocation
that has led them to wrongdoing. We have to end all of this
because they affect the credibility and integrity of our people."
(prb/emb)