Toward a reconciliation

Demands are growing that (former president) Soeharto be put on trial, not to mention the calls for him to account for his past policies in the scheduled special session of the People's Consultative Assembly. We are not sure whether the current investigation of people who are close to him -- such as Prabowo Subianto and Mohamad "Bob" Hasan -- is any indication pointing in that direction. However, we can envisage him dragging all the members of his old regime -- and this would include President B.J. Habibie and the majority of Habibie's cabinet -- into the process.

Thus, the Habibie government's position at present is shaky and quite dilemmatic. True, Habibie is beginning to gain wider recognition as a hard-working and fairly daring leader. Also, many people believe that the general thrust of his policies -- for example his proposed expansion of the regions' autonomy, the opening up of hitherto closed political corridors and the proposed strengthening of the economic base of Indonesia's masses -- could reduce the threat of popular discontent.

However, it is at this point difficult to estimate what the results of the above policies will be. Habibie is racing against time and there is no guarantee that he will get the time he needs to push through his programs. It is quite possible, therefore, that the times we will have to face will be even harder than the present. Still, we all need to stick to the political consensus we have agreed upon while trying to find a new solution that is best for the nation. The concept of a national reconciliation team is useful as long as long as all the nation's aspirations and potentials are accommodated.

The team must be open and government members must not be allowed dominate. Most important, in order to ensure the team's credibility and weight, is the inclusion of public figures such as Megawati Soekarnoputri, Amien Rais and Abdurrahman Wahid. It is important to include people who are known for their ability to elucidate the feelings of the people at the grass roots level and avoid choosing those who would only use the process to serve their own ambitions.

A credible and truly functioning team could help bolster the people's hopes that we will be able to get through this difficult transition period safely.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta