The people have spoken

The people have spoken

While the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) was beginning
its four-day Special Session on Tuesday, the country's leading
opposition politicians saw fit to remind the nation that the
reform movement was still very much alive. Many people had
interpreted the passive stance adopted by pro-reform leaders in
the recent weeks and months as a sign that the noble movement had
run aground.

The opposition leaders -- Abdurrahman Wahid of Nahdlatul
Ulama, Amien Rais, a noted reform movement leader who now chairs
the National Mandate Party (PAN), and Megawati Soekarnoputri, who
leads a popular faction of the splintered Indonesian Democratic
Party (PDI), said after a meeting that Habibie's term in office
should end three months after the general election, which is
scheduled for May next year. Sultan Hamengkubuwono X of
Yogyakarta also attended the meeting.

This statement might not ring sweetly in President B.J.
Habibie's ear, who must surely be weighing up means of staying in
power beyond 1999.

The opposition leaders also gave their backing to widespread
calls for an end to the Armed Forces' (ABRI's) sociopolitical
role and demanded an investigation into the wealth allegedly
amassed by former president Soeharto, his family and friends
during Soeharto's 32-year rule.

In siding with those who wish to see ABRI's dual function come
to an end, the trio have adopted a more realistic stance than
other opposition figures who are demanding an immediate end to
the dual function.

Elsewhere in Jakarta on Tuesday, our legislators, who now too
call themselves reformists, were busy trying to draw a political
map to guide the nation into the next century. Ordinary
Indonesians, watching the proceedings on television, uttered
ubiquitous curses at Soeharto.

These reformist politicians are the same people who reelected
Soeharto to a seventh consecutive term in office in March. Many
also played a role in sending him into a comfortable retirement
after the tragic events of May.

Outside the meeting of the august constitutional body,
thousands of "volunteer" civilian guards have tried their best to
impede the movement of pro-reform students. Clashes were reported
in some parts of the city before the untrained guards were asked
to leave the streets.

The whole affair was yet another foolish farce -- one which
appears to have been designed to pit civilian against civilian.

Many members of the MPR said they recognized the wisdom and
sincerity inherent in the opposition leader's statement. They may
have realized that the trio are the most popular politicians and
public figures in contemporary Indonesia.

Although excluded from the Special Session and the political
establishment, they command considerable public support. Each
member of the trio wields greater individual political clout than
Habibie himself and their united statement should have far-
reaching political consequences.

If sincere in the words of welcome they reserved for the
statement, MPR members should now act to include it on the
session's agenda and pass it as a motion to guide the future
course of the drive for reform. Legislators must now act with
wisdom and open hearts for the sake of our national interest.