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Dissident group opposes re-election of Suharto

Source
Associated Press - December 16, 1997

Ali Kotarumalos, Jakarta – A dissident group of former Cabinet ministers, ex-politicians and retired generals urged Indonesian lawmakers Tuesday not to re-elect Asia's oldest and longest reigning head of state.

The call by the Petition 50 group coincided with news that President Suharto, who is seeking a seventh consecutive term next March, plans to return to work Thursday, ending a two-week rest at home.

In a letter to the People's Consultative Assembly, the group said that Indonesia's financial crisis was a consequence of bigger social, economic and political problems brought on by Suharto's government.

"Actually, as a nation, we are experiencing ... the crisis of morality and life, the crisis of its existence as a nation," the group said.

It said the 1,000-member assembly could improve democracy in Indonesia by changing regulations that tightly control the political system and by not electing Suharto for the 1998-2003 presidential term.

Despite the group's urgings, the assembly is expected to elect Suharto unopposed.

The 76-year-old retired army general came to power after he crushed an unsuccessful communist coup in 1965. Since then, Suharto has tolerated little dissent in his pursuit of stability that has resulted in spectacular economic growth for the world's fourth most-populous nation.

The dissident group noted that when Suharto took office, he had promised democratic reform to correct mistakes made by his predecessor, President Sukarno, who founded Indonesia in 1945 and ruled until it sank into turmoil in the mid-1960s.

"But in fact, the people's sovereignty was ignored. The nation is ruled in an authoritarian way without effective political and social control," the group said of Suharto's time in office.

In the past two weeks, doubts have lingered about Suharto's health. He was last seen in public Dec. 3, when doctors ordered him to rest after a long overseas trip.

Indonesia's currency and stock market sank dramatically last week amid wild rumors that he was seriously ill, or even that he had died. The massive market sell-off has worsened a serious economic situation for Indonesia, which has received a $40 billion rescue package from the International Monetary Fund. Suharto's return to work Thursday includes an appearance at a military cadet graduation ceremony at Jakarta's presidential palace, said a government official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

[The Petition of 50 (Petisi 50) is a group which emerged in 1980 lead by discontented elements of the elite from two traditional political stream, nationalism and Islam along with a number of former military officers. The groups issued a petition, signed by over fifty people, which raised issues of democratic rights and accused Suharto for seeing himself as the personification of the state ideology, Pancasila - James Balowski.]

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