Eduardo Lachica – An Indonesian opposition leader called on the US to help his country conduct free and fair elections, and Washington may be only too happy to oblige.
In response to such urgings from Amien Rais, the chairman of Indonesia's National Mandate Party, US officials said that a package of grants already is being prepared to assist Indonesia in training poll watchers, educating voters and other preparations for its June 7 elections. The US may also support international monitoring of these elections since US
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had been assured by other political contenders that this assistance would be welcome, the officials said.
Mr. Rais also held an hour-long meeting with the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, which is heading a $43 billion bailout and reform program for the Indonesian economy. After the meeting, Mr. Rais said that if elected president, he would continue cooperation with the fund, the World Bank and other international financial institutions. He also said he would do his best to push ahead with market-oriented reforms.
The US is clearly hesitant to appear too interested in the fortunes of specific candidates in Indonesian elections. Mr. Rais failed to secure an appointment with US Vice President Al Gore on Monday; instead, he met with Mr. Gore's foreign-policy adviser, Leon Furth. "If the vice president had to receive Rais, he'd have to receive all of the other candidates," reasoned one of Mr. Rais's admirers in the US
Otherwise, Washington appeared to like what it heard from the elfin, US-educated political scientist who quit the leadership of a 30-million-member Islamic organization to head the reformist party known as PAN, its Indonesian initials. US lawmakers were pleased by the Islamic leader's assurances that he wants a multi-ethnic democracy. Democrat Nancy Pelosi, a US House of Representatives member from California, said meeting with Mr. Rais helped to increase "our understanding about the prospects for Indonesia." Mr. Rais told an audience at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies that since no party is likely to win a majority, PAN would be willing to form a ruling coalition with other parties, including Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle.
And he told congressional staff members that US assistance could help ensure "honest and fair elections." He warned that certain "status quo forces" could thwart the will of the electorate unless the process is conducted properly.
US State Department officials said the Clinton administration is looking for additional funding for Indonesian electoral assistance over and above the $20 million that the administration already has earmarked for this purpose.
During her Jakarta stopover last week, Ms. Albright did her best to look up all the major political contenders. She met Mr. Rais and Ms. Megawati, the daughter of Indonesia's founding president, but couldn't see another Muslim leader, Abdurrahman Wahid, who was reported to be ailing at the time, according to Ms. Albright's aides.
The June 7 vote is intended to elect 462 of the 500 members of the country's new parliament, called the People's Representative Assembly. The remaining 38 seats will be filled by the Indonesian armed forces, which traditionally have enjoyed a preferential place in Indonesian politics. The Parliament will later join 135 provincial delegates and 65 representatives of professional and other groups to form a 700-member People's Consultative Assembly, which will elect the next president in November.