Toward an orderly election

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