JAKARTA, May 24: President Jusuf Habibie, the first new leader in 32 years, will call for elections within twelve months rather than attempt to serve out the five-year term, the leader of the People Power Movement that forced Asia's most enduring statesman from office said today."We were told from Habibie's own mouth that he didn't want to be president until 2003," Amien Rais told a gathering of his 28-million-strong Mohammadiyah Islamic Organisation.Habibie took control of the world's fourth largest nation on Thursday after mass demonstrations, the worst rioting in 30 years and a collapsing economy brought the curtain down on Suharto's authoritarian rule.
Amien Rais, who met Habibie along with four other Opposition luminaries, quoted the former vice-president as saying "I only want to take the nation along the path of reform through free, fair and open elections". Habibie told them elections could take place within twelve months.
Habibie, a 61-year-old German-trained aeronautics engineer, has comeunder tremendous pressure since Suharto's departure to declare himself an interim leader pending the outcome of a fresh poll. Habibie is slated to meet with negotiators from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to discuss a crucial $ 3-bn relief package in Jakarta on Tuesday. Suharto shirked the stringent conditions attached to loans agreed earlier in the year and only $ 4 billion has been disbursed. Freeing the funds is imperative to bolstering international confidence in Indonesia after riots in the capital left 500 dead and led to an exodus of foreigners on mercy flights put on by anxious governments.
Chief economics minister Ginandjar Kartasasmita, who commands the respect of the IMF, pledged to abide by conditions that call for an end to the monopolies and crony capitalism that characterised the Suharto years.
The plan is to continue with the programme agreed but with more efforts on social programmes to ameliorate the effects of the crisis on ordinary people, said Ginandjar.
At a meeting inFrankfurt early next month international bankers will discuss the 80 billion dollars owned by Indonesian companies. Said Ginandjar, himself spoken of as a future president: "Sovereign debt obligations, we will meet; corporate debt obligations, we are negotiating now." Habibie, pledging a cabinet free from corruption, cronyism and nepotism, has signalled his readiness to free the 200-odd political prisoners in Indonesian jails.
Five Cabinet Ministers call for early polls
A rebellion within Indonesia's brand-new Government gained strength today when five Cabinet ministers joined calls for early elections, the official Antara news agency reported.The five Government ministers, sworn in yesterday to President B J Habibie's "reform" Cabinet, allied themselves with Ginandjar Kartasasmita, coordinating minister for Industry, Finance and Economy. Ginandjar said that some ministers never intended to serve out their five-year terms when they accepted their posts and that elections should be held assoon as possible to elect a new President.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
