Toward an orderly election

Those who are hoping that one day a person will emerge to lead a democratic Indonesia naturally realize the importance of preventing this republic from being destroyed from within. The People's Consultative Assembly has issued decrees ordering an investigation into the possibly ill-gotten wealth of (former president) Soeharto, his family and cronies. The government needs to accelerate the pace of its investigation even though it already realizes that it is racing against time. What the public wants is to see the results of those investigations ahead of the forthcoming general election in May or June next year, or otherwise any charges related to the issue could tarnish the election.

The cost would be too high for the general election to be disavowed by anyone. This is true because a general election is still the best alternative available for forming a democratic government whose legitimacy is recognized by everyone. The Habibie government has pledged that the balloting will be free and fair and that international observers will be allowed to watch the proceedings. It would of course be natural that doubts linger that the voting will indeed be truly clean. The success of the forthcoming election, however, does not depend on the government alone, but on all of us. With this in mind, the proposition of holding a national dialog is not something that should be resisted.

-- Republika, Jakarta