Source APC Newsgroup: act.indonesia
Source APC Newsgroup: act.indonesia
Written by: tapol@gn.apc.org
Date: 08 Nov 1998 06:06:33
Subject: After five months some still see Habibie as Suharto stooge
From: tapol@gn.apc.org (TAPOL)
Subject: After five months some still see Habibie as Suharto stoogeFrom Joyo:
After five months some still see Habibie as Suharto stooge
JAKARTA, Nov 8 (AFP) - In a little over five months since the fall of
president Suharto, his successor B.J. Habibie has released political
prisoners, freed the press and promised a host of other reforms including
elections.But no matter what he does, the mercurial "instant president" has been unable
to shake off the charge of being a mere Suharto stooge -- making peripheral
changes while leaving Suharto, and the mainstay of his power, the military,
untouched."Suharto's grip on power is still very strong: we have only sliced off the tip
of the pyramid. The whole of the rest of the structure is still intact,"
Moslem reformist leader Amien Rais said bitterly."The armed forces leaders are still very much there in control, Habibie is in
his (Suharto's) shadow and the Attorney General is the most loyal stooge of
all," said Rais, who was at the barricades when Suharto was toppled.Habibie, 62, does earn sympathy for his unenviable role of picking up the
pieces of the shattered economy left by Suharto and his family and trying to
pull it out of a nosedive -- an exercise the German-trained aeronautical
engineer likens to trying to pull a jet plane out of a stall.But for his opponents it stops there.
Despite Habibie's protestations that a student is not necessarily a clone of
the teacher, and that he follows the western concept of the universality of
human rights, reformists say they feel angry, cheated and thwarted.The thousands of students who occupied the parliament building to force
Suharto and his increasingly greedy family out of power -- and left with
minimal resistance two days after he resigned -- think they should have stayed
and fought.Now they are trying to return and thwart what Habibie calls the most important
first step of his "national agenda," a four day meeting of the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR) to set rough guidelines and a date for the first
post-Suharto elections in 1999.The students call the exercise a "farce" and demand that Habibie toss the
military out of parliament and bring Suharto to court.Thee three most prominent political figures in the country -- Megawati
Sukarnoputri, Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid and Rais -- rejected an 11th hour
offer to join the 1,000-member MPR as pointless.To counteract the growing demonstrations outside parliament the military has
laid on a mind-boggling show of force -- 16,800 troops and police, 125,000
civilian auxiliaries and even six warships standing by off Jakarta.Habibie himself argues back eloquently and at length, insisting that he must
stick with the constitution by using the MPR in its present form, that a legal
inquiry into Suharto's wealth is under way and that democracy is "a baby that
cannot be produced overnight."He says his main task is to build democratic institutions, including an
independent central bank and judiciary, strong enough to withstand a
dictatorial leader.He also pledges to ensure before he leaves office that no dictator can ever
hold Indonesia in its grip again by ruling that no president can serve more
than two terms.Since Suharto handed him the presidency on May 21, workers have been given the
right to organize, Indonesia has signed the UN convention against torture, and
a move has been made to solve the problem of East Timor with a broad autonomy
offer.Magazines banned since 1994 have reappeared on the streets, the country's most
famous leftist writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer is writing newspaper columns and
more than 100 political parties have sprung up since Habibie lifted a Suharto-
era ban on more than three parties.But reformists hear Attorney General Andi Ghalib protesting that Suharto is
innocent and Habibie saying he will run for the presidency in 1999. Then they
see the same old Suharto-loyalist faces in the MPR and fear that all pledges
so far amount to empty promises.The substantial business interests of Habibie's own family, promoted by his
mentor Suharto, are largely intact and his own secretary of state heads
Suharto's old political party Golkar.Only selected political prisoners were freed, reformists say, with top names
such as Timorese rebel leader Xanana Gusmao still behind bars.The laws on political parties have yet to be debated, a blatant attempt was
made to "licence" journalists like doctors and those investigating military
abuses are targeted with death threats.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign
111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath,
Surrey CR7 8HW, UK
Phone: 0181 771-2904 Fax: 0181 653-0322
email: tapol@gn.apc.org
Campaigning to expose human rights violations in
Indonesia, East Timor, West Papua and AcehJoin us to celebrate TAPOL's 25th anniversary on
20 October 1998. Contact us for ticket details.
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