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Megawati speech stops traffic

Source
American Reporter - July 29, 1999

Andreas Harsono, Jakarta – Indonesian presidential front-runner Megawati Sukarnoputri broke her long silence after winning the parliamentary elections here and spoke for 80 minutes Thursday in a speech that answered critics on issues ranging from Islamic law to separatist movements in East Timor, Irian Jaya, Maluku and Aceh. The spech sparked a 2.9 percent rise in the nation's stock market.

Taxi drivers, street vendors and blue-collar workers in the streets of Jakarta stopped their activities to watch TV or to listen to their radios as Megawati delivered the nationally-broadcast, some of them applauding as she spoke.

The speech had moments of great intensity. When talking about Aceh, Megawati sobbed for minutes before wiping her eyes, and calling on the Acehnese people to be patient and to wait for her government.

"I always remember the struggle of the people of Aceh. I'm going to give my soul, I'm going to give Arun back to you and I'm going to see how beautiful is this 'Verandah of Indonesia'," as the region is sometimes known.

Arun is a resource-rich area of Aceh, the northernmost part of Sumatra, whose wealth has usually been channeled to Jakarta. Many Acehnese have demanded that income from the Arun natural gas fields be returned to the people of Aceh,

It was Megawati's first policy speech since her Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P) topped the June 7 multi-party elections with 33.7 percent of the vote.

Megawati said that she had won the mandate of her party to fight for the the presidency later this year, vowing that her government will uphold the rule of law, promote non-violence and fight corruption in this, the world's fourth most populous country.

"Everyone who is guilty will be brought to justice, and it is not only former President Suharto but also his cronies, which include the incumbent president," said Megawati, referring to President B.J. Habibie. He was a close aide to Suharto who had allegedly used his power to enrich his children and friends while in power for 33 years.

The 700-strong People's Consultative Assembly is scheduled to convene in November to elect the next president. Megawati's main rival is Habibie, whose Golkar party took second place with 22 percent of the votes.

Critics say that Megawati should not be the president on the grounds that Islam prohibits women from becoming a head of state. They also say that non-Muslim legislators dominate Megawati's PDI-P party.

In turn, she accused her critics of manipulating the teaching of Islam, saying the charge that her party is dominated by non-Muslims is false. She also said that all of her legislators are instructed to pay attention to the needs of the Muslims.

"I just let these politicians use all of their intrigue and manipulations to see how far they could go," said Megawati, adding that the Indonesian people, however, did not buying into their manipulations and still voted for her party.

Megawati also mapped out her plan to take Indonesia out of the ongoing economic crisis, saying that her priority is to restore the confidence of the business world in Indonesia. She stressed the need to uphold current contracts and to reshape many economic institutions.

Political scientist Eep Saefulloh Fatah of the University of Indonesia said that the speech was a good one. Megawati finally came out with her political ideas, which are more liberal than many people thought, he said.

A number of foreign diplomats and leading politicians such as Edi Sudrajat and Matori Abdul Jalil, who preside over two other major political parties, also attended the speech at her party's headquarters in southern Jakarta. "I'm sure Megawati is going to be the president," Matori told reporters. His party is apparently prepared to support Megawati.

Megawati also said that her government would respect the results of a forthcoming UN-sponsored referendum in East Timor. "The agreement signed by Indonesia and Portugal is binding in nature for the whole Indonesian nation." Violence has repeatedly pushed back the date of the referendum.

The people of the former Portuguese colony invaded by Indonesia in 1975 are now due to vote on August 30 whether to accept or reject an offer of autonomy under Indonesia.

However, Megawati warned any other troubled areas of Indonesia, such as Aceh and Irian Jaya, against trying to use the East Timor referendum as an argument to try to break away from the republic her father, the country's first president, helped found.

She frequently lashed out at the regime of deposed dictator Suharto and "its successor" that she said has used the military to repress people in areas such as East Timor, Irian Jaya, Aceh and Maluku. She said her government is going to change the military into a defense force that is not involved in politics, as it is now.

Comments in the speech that backed free-market economic policies sent the moribund Jakarta Stock Exchange soaring 2.9 percent.

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