Wiranto warns of groups seeking radical reform

Wiranto warns of groups seeking radical reform

JAKARTA (JP): Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto charged
yesterday there were groups in Indonesian society seeking to
engineer radical political and economic reform.

"Their intermediate target is to disrupt the upcoming General
Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)," said
Wiranto when addressing a ceremony held to mark the transfer of
duty of Army chief of staff from himself to Gen. Subagyo
Hadisiswoyo.

Wiranto was installed as new Armed Forces (ABRI) chief,
replacing Gen. Feisal Tanjung, last week.

"Their main target is to have total political and economic
reform in the country," he said. He failed to identify the
groups.

Later, when he addressed the press, he described his intention
to take an unequivocal stance against any attempts to disrupt the
five-yearly political event. "There will be no bargaining
(regarding the stance) in order to make the event a success," he
said.

"The MPR's General Session is the key to the country's
development process," he said. "A failed MPR session will cause
problems for development programs."

He said he had instructed all soldiers to take firm action
against any unconstitutional attempts to disrupt the event.

The 1,000-member MPR will convene from March 1 through March
11 to elect a president and vice president and to endorse the
1998/2003 State Policy Guidelines.

Wiranto also commented on some retired generals who have
become critical of the Armed Forces. He said they were a "common"
phenomenon.

"I believe that there are also some journalists, who are
unfortunately sick, whose opinions and ideas are different from
the others'," he said.

However, he asserted that the Armed Forces in general,
including the retired officers, was as solid as ever.

The transfer ceremony was attended by several former Army
chiefs of staff. They were Gen. (ret) Abdul Haris Nasution, Gen.
(ret) Makmun Murod, Gen. (ret) Poniman, Gen. (ret) Wismoyo
Arismunandar, Gen. (ret) R. Hartono.

Also present were defense attaches from friendly countries.

Wiranto also confirmed yesterday that the Armed Forces would
not waver in its support for civilian B.J. Habibie as the next
vice president.

He said ABRI would always be consistent in its stance.

"A decision of ABRI today will remain the same tomorrow, the
day after tomorrow, and hereafter," he said. "You should not
question the Armed Forces' stance on Habibie's nomination
anymore."

The Armed Forces headquarters came out in support of Habibie's
vice presidency nomination, when it announced last Wednesday that
the state minister of research and technology was its sole
candidate.

Then ABRI chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung said Habibie was the
appropriate figure to assist Haji Muhammad Soeharto with his
state duties, including handling state problems and responding to
challenges in the next five years.

The outgoing ABRI chief also reaffirmed the Armed Forces'
support for the renomination of Soeharto.

The Armed Forces' announcement was made after the other four
MPR factions -- Golkar, the United Development Party, the
Indonesian Democratic Party and the regional representatives --
had declared their candidates. (imn)