The succession issue

The succession issue

Lately, the question of national leadership and succession has
again become the talk of the day. Discussions revolve around the
question of who the possible candidates for the presidency for
the 1998-2003 period might be. A similar debate concerns the
candidacy for the vice presidency.

Positively viewed, all this is natural because it reflects a
healthy concern for the nation's future. The question concerns
the extent to which the coming national leadership, to be elected
by the People's Consultative Assembly in 1997, will be able to
assure continuity in our development efforts, which are supported
by lasting national stability.

In the meantime, in the estimate of one political scholar, who
is known as an expert on Indonesia, a political vacuum will occur
if President Soeharto is no longer the national leader. To
support this assumption, the argument is made that Indonesia
lacks the experience of change in the national leadership.

In our opinion, this prediction of a political vacuum is
caused by a lack of understanding about the leadership mechanism
that has been developed under the New Order. For this reason,
predictions of this kind should be considered with a critical
mind.

-- Suara Karya, Jakarta