Two parties urge Habibie to resign

Two parties urge Habibie to resign

JAKARTA (JP): The National Awakening Party (PKB) and the
Justice and Unity Party (PKP) urged on Wednesday that President
B.J. Habibie step down for his failure to curb violence, citing
the continuing Maluku unrest, in which 159 people have been
killed since January.

Chairman of PKB, Matori Abdul Djalil, said Habibie's Cabinet
should also be dissolved for its failure to cope with
instability, given the widespread unrest in several parts of the
country.

"It is better for Habibie to return the mandate he received
from the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and resign
immediately. (This will) allow the MPR to appoint a new
transitional government to complete the national agenda -- the
June polls and MPR's General Session in November," Matori said on
Wednesday at a meeting in which he divulged results of the
party's two-day congress which ended Tuesday.

Matori said the party was deeply concerned that a solution had
yet to be found to check the continuing violence.

Matori said that his party was "bewildered" by the Armed
Forces' (ABRI) failure to quell continuing unrest in Ambon, the
capital of Maluku.

ABRI had failed to arrest the masterminds of the conflict and
was yet to conduct a thorough investigation into the unrest, he
said.

"Gen. Wiranto (Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces
Commander) should be held responsible for defense and security
everywhere, including riots and social conflicts," he said.

Deputy chairman of PKP, Tatto S. Pradjamanggala, said that
since Habibie's presidency, "riots have continued and the nation
is overwhelmed by social, political and economic problems".

"This means there is no other alternative for Habibie than to
stand down," he said.

He added that his party would hold its first congress from
March 5 to March 7 to discuss preparations for the general
election.

"The congress is expected to finalize the party's short-term
program and design strategies to contest the election, defuse the
crisis and redevelop the national economy.

"We will also discuss the best strategy to communicate the
party's program during the campaign and to select candidates for
the legislature."

Tatto dismissed suggestions of a possible coalition with the
ruling Golkar party, saying they had differences in political
vision and programs.

Several senior former Golkar members were among those who
founded the Justice and Unity Party.

However in Jayapura, the capital of Irian Jaya, the Golkar
provincial branch said it had nominated Habibie and Akbar
Tandjung for President and Vice President respectively.

Provincial Golkar chairman, Nataniel Kaiway, also the council
chairman, had earlier praised Habibie for his response to
aspirations of independence, conveyed to him last month by a
delegation from Irian Jaya.

Other party activities on Wednesday included that of the
Cilacap, Central Java branch of the National Mandate Party. The
party protested the regional administration's policy of hiking
costs to process identity cards (IDs) by 300 percent, from Rp
1,500 to Rp 5,000.

"In these hard times, the administration should not make life
harder by hiking ID costs," the party's regional chairman Slamet
Efendi said.

He charged that the policy was "political", and was designed
to prevent people from voting in the upcoming polls because they
lacked IDs.

"The party which has this interest is the one who is most
hated by the public," he said, adding that ID cards should be
issued for free.

Administration spokesman Suprihono told The Jakarta Post that
the hike was a result of a 300 percent jump in costs involved in
laminating the cards. The increase came into effect last week.

Chairman of PAN, Amien Rais, also inaugurated the party
branches of Kudus, Pati, Jepara, Rembang and Blora regencies in
Central Java, in a ceremony in Kudus.

In Semarang, rector of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta,
Ichlasul Amal, welcomed an anticipated contingent of election
observers from several countries, to be led by former U.S.
president Jimmy Carter.

The arrival of foreign observers would help the election
process and, if dishonest practices were observed, than
statements with international impact could be made, Ichlasul, a
political lecturer, said. (rms/45/34/har)