Soeharto's spech 'incomplete'

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)