Wiranto elected chairman of team to elect president

JAKARTA (JP): Gen. Wiranto was elected yesterday as the chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) ad hoc committee in charge of electing a president and vice president next March for the 1998-2003 term.

The Assembly also elected Gen. (ret) R. Hartono as the chairman of another ad hoc committee which will be in charge of drafting state policies that will be deliberated and endorsed in the body's session in March.

Wiranto is an MPR member from the Armed Forces faction and is currently the Army Chief of Staff. Hartono, the Army's former chief of staff, is Minister of Information.

Chairman of the Assembly's working committee Poedjono Pranyoto presided over the election of Hartono and Wiranto in a closed door session.

Hartono will be assisted by his deputy Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of the Armed Forces faction and secretary Eddy Waluyo of the regional representative faction. Bambang is the assistant to the Armed Forces Chief of Sociopolitical Affairs, while Eddy chairs the Jakarta City Council.

Wiranto will team up with his deputy Akbar Tanjung, also Minister of Public Housing, and secretary Muladi, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights.

Each ad hoc committee has 45 members plus substitutes.

The election of both Hartono and Wiranto had been previously widely expected.

Deputy chairman of the working committee Hari Sabarno told reporters after the session that Hartono received unanimous support from the session's attendants.

Another deputy chairman, Abdul Latief, said Wiranto was elected after lobbying among the leadership of the five factions. "It took us just seven minutes to reach agreement (on Wiranto's election)," said Latief, also Minister of Manpower.

"The brief session has shown the Assembly is in the mood to work as quickly as possible, without sacrificing the spirit of harmony and cooperation," he said.

He predicted that if all 90 members of the ad hoc committees managed to maintain both their pace and spirit, they would not find too many hurdles to complete their jobs on time.

House Speaker Harmoko has announced that the working committee would have to finish all preparations by two weeks before the general session kicks off on March 1 next year.

Poedjono expressed the same optimism, saying that any glitches in the deliberation would be handled by the working committee.

Hari and Latief shared Poedjono's view, saying that all factions would work together and put the national interest above group interests.

"We can again resort to lobbying in case we fail to avoid a stalemate," Latief said.

In a plenary session on Friday, the five factions in the Assembly offered 32 drafts. The dominant Golkar faction proposed five drafts, the equally powerful Armed Forces four, the Moslem- based United Development Party (PPP) faction 11, the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) six and the regional representatives six.

Another deputy chairman, Tosari Wijaya of the PPP, said the drafts could still be revised up until before the general session.

"They remain drafts until the Assembly concludes its general session next March. We call on people to respond to the drafts so that we can endorse decrees that meet their expectations," Tosari said.

A Golkar-supported draft decree which gives the next president extra power to take preemptive repressive actions, and a PPP and PDI-proposed decree on a human rights charter look certain to become the most debated topics when the ad hoc committee begins their work today. (amd)