Soeharto's children picked as Golkar candidates
Soeharto's children picked as Golkar candidates
JAKARTA (JP): The ruling Golkar organization is preparing a
list of Indonesia's who's who to submit to the General Election
Institute as its candidates for the House of Representatives and
People's Consultative Assembly.
Two of President Soeharto's children -- Siti Hardiyanti
Rukmana and Bambang Trihatmodjo -- and Vice President Try
Sutrisno's son Isfan Fajar Satryo are Golkar candidates for the
Assembly.
Dien Syamsuddin, the head of Golkar's research and development
department, said yesterday that the grouping's central executive
board, under chairman Harmoko, has democratically selected names
from the proposed lists of candidates submitted by Golkar's 27
chapters across the country.
"We include all elements of society in our list of prospective
legislators," Dien told reporters in his office yesterday.
The proposed list of Golkar legislators includes political
observer Amir Santoso, Moslem leaders Sahal Mahfudz and Ali
Yafie, and chairman of Golkar's business wing Kosgoro Bambang W.
Suharto. They are candidates for House membership.
Other figures include chairman of Real Estate Indonesia Edwin
Kawilarang, businessman Fadel Muhammad, and chairman of the
Indonesian Journalists Association Sofyan Lubis. Former student
activists Ekky Syahrudin, Fahmi Idris and Djussil Djusan are also
on the list, as are chairman of the Muhammadiyah Youth Moslem
Organization Hajriyanto Y. Thohari, and leaders of the Pemuda
Pancasila Youth Organization Yapto S. Soeryosoemarno and Yorrys
Th. Raweyai.
Dien praised Harmoko for "accommodating all of the 45 members
of the Golkar central board on the list of prospective members
for the House (DPR) and Assembly (MPR)."
"It's under Harmoko's leadership that all members of the
Golkar central board are put up as candidates for DPR/MPR
membership," he said.
The three political contestants -- Golkar, the United
Development Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) --
are supposed to submit their lists of prospective House members
to the General Elections Institute by Sept. 16.
In a separate development, Golkar's Bali chapter came under
fire yesterday because party activists used pura, or minor
temples, in various regencies for political activities.
They were also accused of mobilizing the Banjar, or members of
the traditional council, for party activities aimed at ensuring
victory in next year's election. They also used the Dewa Saksi
(an oath before God) ritual in their political rallies.
"The Banjar doesn't belong to any one political organization.
It belongs to all three existing political organizations," said
the chairman of the PDI Bali chapter, I.G.K. Gde Adnyana.
"Let the traditional tribal councils remain neutral," I Dewa
Gde Atmaja, a law professor at the Denpasar-based Udayana
University, said.
Meanwhile, an official of the PDI Central Java chapter
announced yesterday that it would not put Megawati Soekarnoputri
and Aberson Marle Sihaloho on its list of legislatures.
"They won't be renominated because they rejected the party
congress in Medan, North Sumatra, which elected Soerjadi as the
new PDI chairman," Bantoe Soenarjo said.
Megawati, the ousted PDI leader, and Aberson, a vocal PDI
legislator, were nominated by the PDI Central Java chapter in the
1992 general elections. (imn/har/23)