Support grows for ethnic Chinese minister

Support grows for ethnic Chinese minister

JAKARTA (JP): Support is growing for calls for the next
president to include a Chinese-Indonesian in his cabinet as
recognition that the ethnic group is a valued part of the nation.

Observers say that to have a Chinese-Indonesian minister would
also serve as a gesture that the government is sincere in its
pledge to treat all ethnic groups equally.

Well-known property tycoon Enggartiasto Lukita and
constitutional law expert Yusril Ihza Mahendra said it "should be
no problem" for the next government to fulfill the hope.

They agreed that to have a Chinese-Indonesian cabinet minister
would be possible if real capability, rather than political
loyalty, was the president's main consideration in choosing his
aides.

Under the country's political system, it is the president's
prerogative to choose the cabinet ministers.

"At the moment, when the state is facing a critical future,
aptitude and integrity should be the basic considerations in
selecting cabinet members," Enggartiasto, himself of Chinese
descent and a member of the People's Consultative Assembly, said
yesterday.

The idea comes amid the mounting calls for the next president
to create a clean government with the cabinet lineup consisting
of capable, honest and visionary figures who can save Indonesia
from sinking in the economic crisis.

Economist Kwik Kian Gie, renowned for his independent analyses
on current affairs, has been most widely mentioned as a potential
figure from the ethnic Chinese community.

But his political affiliation to the "opposition" Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI) is seen as reducing his chances.

Reliable sources said yesterday that executives of the
dominant Golkar faction were considering proposing three Chinese
business tycoons to the new president for cabinet places: Anthony
Salim, James T. Riyadi and Enggartiasto.

Enggartiasto said he was not very sure if now, when anti-
Chinese sentiment was felt to be on the rise across the country
-- as was obvious in recent riots targeting their properties --
was the right time for a Chinese-Indonesian to sit in the
cabinet.

Asked if he was interested in a cabinet post, he said: "I have
never dreamed of becoming a minister. Naming cabinet ministers is
the president's prerogative."

Yusril and Enggartiasto were of the opinion that most ethnic
Chinese figures' sense of nationalism was beyond doubt.

"Capability combined with a strong sense of nationalism would
make one a good cabinet minister," Yusril said Wednesday.

People of the Chinese descent are officially said to make up
only about 3.5 percent of Indonesia's 202 million population but
they dominate the economy.

People from the ethnic group were kept away from politics
after the government severed diplomatic ties with Beijing in 1965
after charging the Chinese of involvement in the attempted coup
blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party.

Their access to public schools and companies have been
somewhat limited, making them concentrate their activities in the
private business sector.

President Sukarno recruited several Chinese ethnic figures as
his aides, including Oei Tjoe Tat as a state minister and Moh.
Ali as a health minister.

Golkar Secretary-General Ary Mardjono was somewhat reluctant
to comment on the proposal. He said that even though they were
not represented in the cabinet, the Chinese community could have
their aspirations channeled through the existing systems.

Syamsudin Haris, a researcher at the National Institute of
Sciences, was quoted by Jawa Pos newspaper as saying recently
that having a Chinese presence would make the next cabinet
"ideal".

"It's high time for the government to end the political
isolation of ethnic Chinese people," he said. "We have banned
them from politics and this made them the economic animals.

"Now that they have become a powerful economic group, we put
the blame for all economic problems on them. This is unfair and
should be ended," he said. (pan/imn)