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)