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)