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)