Soeharto's spech 'incomplete'

JAKARTA (JP): The ousted leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), Megawati Soekarnoputri, said yesterday that President Soeharto's accountability speech was incomplete as it did not include sufficient details on issues such as political development.

Addressing the media at her residence in Kebagusan subdistrict, South Jakarta, the eldest daughter of the late president Sukarno said the speech neglected basic principles stipulated in the 1945 Constitution and the 1993/1998 State Policy Guidelines.

"The government has ignored the development of the political and legal sectors, and... shifted from people's sovereignty to power sovereignty," she said.

She pointed to the May general election which she claimed neglected the right to free choice of some 20 million PDI members, namely her supporters.

Megawati was dethroned in a government-sponsored PDI congress in June 1996 and replaced by Soerjadi. She was also barred from contesting the general elections last May because the government only recognized the Soerjadi-led PDI.

Since then she has been waging a legal battle against her rivals, and has become a critical commentator of many government policies and Indonesian political system.

She was among those who openly opposed the renomination of President Soeharto to his seventh consecutive term, urging the President to take a lesson from her own father's mistakes.

Yesterday, Megawati said the prolonged monetary crisis would not have happened if the country was free from corruption, collusion and nepotism.

The press conference yesterday was attended by local and foreign correspondents. Also present were staff from the U.S. and Australian embassies and youth leaders from the Indonesian Nationalist Students Movement, the Democratic Youths, the Indonesian Catholic Youths Movement, the Indonesian Christian Students Movement and the Indonesian Islamic Students Movement. (imn)