SOKSI to review presidential succession

JAKARTA (JP): One of the mass organizations that form the basis of Golkar, SOKSI, will review this week the national preparations for a change in presidency, which its chairman, Suhardiman, says could still happen in 1998.

Speaking to reporters about SOKSI's upcoming congress, which opens tomorrow, Suhardiman said that while he cannot predict a presidential succession is a certainty in 1998, there are indications to support the suggestion, Antara reported.

For one, President Soeharto recently told senior East Timorese politician Lopez da Cruz that he would continue to help resolve the East Timor problem, even when he is no longer in the government, Suhardiman said.

Also a statement by Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman, during a seminar in Semarang, in which he said that hand over of the national leadership from the Generation '45 would be completed in 1998, Suhardiman said.

Generation '45 is the term used to refer to people who took part in Indonesia's independence struggle. Soeharto is about the only freedom fighter remaining in a national leadership position.

"We need to make a thorough preparation for this transformation (in national leadership)," Suhardiman said. "We need to study the question of succession."

SOKSI has its origins as a workers' union, under patronage of the Army, to counter the growing strength of unions affiliated to the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in the 1960s.

In 1964, SOKSI, together with several other organizations, formed Golkar as their political umbrella. Although Golkar now recruits its members directly, SOKSI has retained its identity and operates like a faction within the ruling political group.

PKI, which in the early 1960s was one of the largest parties in Indonesia, was banned in 1966 after it was blamed for the abortive coup against president Sukarno a year earlier.

Golkar has become the dominant political party in Indonesia, since President Soeharto came to power in 1966. It has won all five general elections held since 1971.

Suhardiman, a retired Army general, said that although this weekend's congress would discuss presidential succession, SOKSI would refrain from discussing any particular names.

"It's unethical," he said, echoing the words of Golkar chairman Harmoko, who has also resisted pressure from others for the ruling group to join in the debate about who will succeed President Soeharto.

Suhardiman said it is the business of the People's Consultative Assembly to name the candidates for the presidency, that it would be unethical for SOKSI to preempt the assembly's next gathering in 1998. Besides, Soeharto appears to be in a fine condition of health, he noted.

SOKSI would channel its aspirations regarding the next president through Golkar when the time comes, he added. "But no names at this stage."

However, the succession issue still needs to be addressed in view of the transformation Indonesia is now undergoing, including in the national leadership, he said. (emb)