Wiranto declines Habibie's VP offer

Wiranto declines Habibie's VP offer

JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie's presidential bid
suffered a major blow on Monday when his handpicked running mate,
Indonesian Military Commander Gen. Wiranto, in a nationally
televised statement, said he would not enter the electoral fray.

However, Wiranto snuck in a provision at the very end of his
statement that he could reconsider "if the people really need
it".

Accompanied by the military top brass, Wiranto said that due
to the political and security situation which tended to move
toward instability, he had no choice but to concentrate efforts
on insuring the safety of the nation.

Wiranto, who was named one of the Golkar Party's four vice
presidential candidates -- besides party chief Akbar Tandjung,
Yogyakarta's Sultan Hamengkubuwono X and former Cabinet minister
Ginandjar Kartasasmita -- and was the personal choice of Habibie,
said he had not been approached about the nomination and had
decided not to enter the political contest at this time.

"I have to say that until now I have never been contacted by
anyone, including the Golkar Party which, in its meeting, openly
mentioned my name," Wiranto said.

"Under the current situation I have chosen not to enter the
presidential and vice presidential contest."

In what appeared to be a conditional clause, in his closing
sentence Wiranto said: "I will carry out the political position
available to me if the people really need it".

A Golkar Party executive meeting last week agreed to allow
Habibie the "privilege" of naming his running mate. The party,
however, also gave a mandate to Akbar Tandjung to seek an
alternative strategy if Habibie's nomination faced strong
opposition.

Habibie has said that Wiranto's military and Javanese
background were strong traits for his being a vice president.

But Wiranto's rejection now looks ominous for Habibie, who
will face a credibility test when the People's Consultative
Assembly (MPR) votes on whether to accept his accountability
report on Tuesday night.

The Assembly will elect a president on Wednesday, with
Habibie, Megawati Soekarnoputri and Abdurrahman Wahid the three
leading candidates.

Falling short of saying the incumbent's nomination might be
lost, Golkar Party deputy chairman Marzuki Darusman politely
described the latest development as "substantively diminishing
Habibie's prospects".

"Effectively, what Wiranto said was that he declined the vice
presidential nomination from Habibie, and this of course clearly
indicates the position of the TNI in not supporting Habibie's
nomination," Marzuki told The Jakarta Post on Monday evening.

"That is something that we anticipated... In any case it may
be the turning point of Habibie's prospects," he said, adding
that Wiranto made a "very wise move from the viewpoint of TNI".

Late Monday night Golkar members were seen hastily exiting
Assembly commission deliberations to attend an emergency Golkar
meeting.

No formal explanation was given about the closed meeting which
began at about 10 p.m. and continued past midnight. It is
suspected that they convened to discuss the latest political
development.

Split

A combination of Wiranto's refusal to run and a rejection of
the accountability speech on Tuesday night could seal Habibie's
fate.

Unless there is a last minute political compromise, Assembly
members are expected to vote of the accountability speech on
Tuesday evening. The result of the vote will be ratified in an
Assembly decree.

By all accounts there remained a fine balance on Monday night
between those who would support and reject the accountability
speech.

Four factions -- the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle,
the National Awakening Party (PKB), the Indonesian Nationhood and
the Love the Nation Democratic Party -- have rejected the
accountability speech with only one, the United Ummat Sovereignty
faction, accepting it.

The remaining six have raised concerns about it but have not
stated whether they will reject or accept it.

On the surface, top Golkar Party officials like Fahmi Idris
remained confident that the party candidate would be able to pass
this initial test.

"We are optimistic that more factions will throw their weight
behind it," he said.

"I am sure in the Golkar faction all members will be loyal to
the party and cast their votes in the secret ballot in favor of
the accountability speech," he said in an attempt to defuse talk
that splits were occurring in the 182-member faction.

However a reliable source in the Golkar faction conceded that
the faction was indeed split, with estimates of up to 80 members
expected to reject the accountability speech.

"It's surprising that some 80 faction members are planning to
launch an underground movement to oppose the faction's stand. I
fear that the number will increase during the ballot," the source
told The Jakarta Post in the Assembly compound on Monday
afternoon.

Dimyati Hartono, deputy chairman of PDI Perjuangan, claimed
that a majority of Assembly members were expected to reject the
speech in the ballot as they would not dare betray the intense
protests condemning it.

Muhaimin Iskandar, PKB secretary-general, concurred and said
that his 57-member faction would reject the accountability report
in the ballot at the plenary session.

"We can now calculate the number of those opposing the speech.
The four factions with a total of 260 will need only 90 votes
from other factions to win the ballot," he said, hoping that more
than 100 members of the Golkar, the United Development and the
Reform factions would reject it.

He particularly expressed confidence that the 41-member Reform
faction would reject the speech as hinted by the National Mandate
Party (PAN), which makes up the faction along with the Justice
Party.

Zarkasih Nur, deputy chairman of the United Development
faction, admitted that while the faction was officially swaying
toward accepting the speech, individual members in the 74-seat
faction were divided.

"Although the United Development faction will (officially)
accept the accountability speech with numerous notes, some of its
members are expected to reject it," he said.

Laode Zaini, a Golkar faction Assembly member, confidently
boasted that the accountability speech would be accepted as 600
of the 700 Assembly members were Muslims. He did not elaborate.
(byg/rms/jsk)