Soeharto values dialogs: Saadilah
Soeharto values dialogs: Saadilah
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto values dialog as a means of
exchanging views and opinions but would not necessarily hold any
such intercourse with members of the public, a senior minister
said.
Minister/State Secretary Saadilah Mursjid said yesterday,
after visiting House Speaker Harmoko, that Soeharto respected all
endeavors to hold dialog with the people and believed such
actions were beneficial.
"But if someone asked for a dialog with the President, we
would have to wait and see. If discussions between ordinary
members of the community are adequate to solve problems, why ask
for dialog with the President?" Saadilah said, as quoted by
Antara.
Saadilah pointed out that Soeharto is a man who has concepts
and respects principles.
"Therefore, for people wishing to deliver criticism of the
government, there are channels to go through and protocol to be
observed," he said. "We adhere to the system and mechanisms
delineated in the 1945 Constitution."
Saadilah was commenting on a dialog backed by the Armed Forces
involving 16 cabinet ministers, officials and students which was
held on Saturday at the Jakarta Fair Grounds in Kemayoran,
Central Jakarta.
The dialog followed weeks of student protests across the
country which demanded sweeping economic and political reform to
bring an immediate end to the economic crisis. In some places,
the demonstrations turned into violent clashes between students
and the security forces.
Student bodies which rejected the government-sponsored dialog,
such as those from University of Indonesia in Jakarta, the
Bandung Institute of Technology and Gadjah Mada University in
Yogyakarta, were not invited. Some student leaders said they
would prefer to hold a direct dialog with the President and, if
that was not possible, they would continue to hold
demonstrations.
"I believe the dialog was a positive step," Saadilah said,
adding that he himself had not been invited to attend. "I am
looking into what actually took place during the dialog because
news reports were not very clear.
"I believe the dialog was held in order to gain a fresh
insight into the situation. People could agree and things will
become clear, or people could disagree," he said.
When the government-sponsored dialog was held on Saturday,
students from the University of Indonesia and several other
colleges held their own meetings. Other student groups persisted
with demonstrations.
Among senior government figures who attended the dialog was
Minister of Social Services Siti Hardijanti Rukmana who asserted
that economic reform comes before political reform.
Yesterday, the minister, also a successful businesswoman,
again expressed her willingness to engage in a dialog covering
economic and political reform with students.
"The format could be like a safari, where ministers travel
from campus to campus. If anybody wants to invite me, please do
so, I am ready," Antara quoted her as having said on the
sidelines of a meeting of ministry officials.
"I will always have time if students want to hold open, on-
campus dialogs. A minister's responsibilities do not only include
going to the field (on charity programs) but also to disseminate
information to the public, including students," she said.
Hardijanti, better known as Mbak Tutut, conceded that the
Kemayoran dialog had not been as effective as hoped because each
of the 16 ministers had only been given five minutes to speak.
"The dialog should be followed up on," she added.
Armed Forces Chief of Sociopolitical Affairs Lt. Gen. Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono echoed this sentiment yesterday when he said
the meeting should be followed with a "more specific agenda" for
reform.
In reference to student groups which rejected the dialog, he
said the Armed Forces could not possibly force such dissenters to
attend. "ABRI's good intentions should not be misinterpreted," he
said, adding that such meetings were an important way to foster
better mutual understanding. (swe/imn/byg)