Jakarta – Indonesian Home Affairs Minister Syarwan Hamid Tuesday proposed an alliance between incumbent President B.J. Habibie and Megawati Sukarnoputri, the opposition presidential frontrunner from the June 7 elections.
"They can form a positive synergy to bear the heavy burdens of this country," Hamid said, adding that a combined force was "worth much consideration."
Megawati is the leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party-Strugglewhich is leading in the vote count and Habibie the candidate of the ruling Golkar Party which Tuesday nudged into second place in the incomplete exercise.
Hamid said such an alliance was not "without grounds". "He [Habibie] has a considerable understanding about it. I can't be alone [in my opinion], that's the point," he said when asked if Habibie would be willing to team up with Megawati.
The minister did not explain how, politically or constitutionally, the two might get together, but said he saw a trade-off as inevitable for a compromise.
"For example we have ten targets, if we compromise maybe we can get five and another side gets five." he said.
Hamid also said he was confident the final results of the historic elections, the first since the fall of Habibie's patron and predecessor Suharto fell from power, would be announced on schedule.
"On July 7, I'm sure the counting will have been completed, that's the limit," Hamid told journalists after meeting Habibie.
The minister urged parties winning the elections to share power "for the country's interests."
"For the sake of the country, they are obliged to sit at one table to discuss and identify the country's problems, and this involves power-sharing" Hamid said.
Earlier Tuesday, military chief General Wiranto called for "maturity" from all parties.
"The solution now is that each (party) should be willing to sacrifice [their interest] for a larger interest, that of the state and the nation," he said.
"This nation needs compromise and dialogue to reach national decisions that are oriented to the interests of the people," Wiranto said.
"And sometimes the dialogue would entail sacrifices from those sides taking part in the dialogue," he added, amid reports the military had been urging a "government of national unity" to avoid a showdown between the opposition and Golkar.
Hamid said the market would react positively to a "distribution of power. But when each party performs a one-man show, people will be worried because such a government is certainly not strong," he said.
The national election commission on Monday said it will postpone the start of compiling checked and approved election results from the 27 provinces, saying many of the results still faced challenges.
The totalling of the provincial results is the last phase in the vote count and many politicians have criticized the exercise saying it may further delay the announcement of results due on July 8.
PDIP is leading the tally with more than 30 percent of the some 60 million vote counted so far, or about half of the expected returns. Golkar Tuesday rose to second place with more than 18.1 percent.