Jakarta – Indonesian Armed-Forces Commander General Wiranto accepted the nomination by President B.J. Habibie as his running mate for the October 20 presidential election, a local newspaper reported Thursday.
"I have said from the beginning that for a soldier, dedication to the nation knows no time and space," the daily Kompas quoted Wiranto as saying. "It means if there is a call to duty from the people and the government, we will try to perform our duty the best that we can," he added.
Wiranto was quoted as expressing his gratitude toward the ruling Golkar party, which named him as one of its vice president candidates.
The Golkar party named Wiranto as one of four candidates for vice president. However, the ruling party gave Habibie the final say as to who his running mate would be.
Habibie's choice of Wiranto has rattled Indonesian capital and currency markets as the military is now expected to cast their 38 votes in the parliament for Habibie. The possibility of the incumbent Habibie staying in power is raising fears of violence following the election.
Later Thursday, Habibie is scheduled to deliver the so-called "accountability" speech. He is expected to address the crisis in East Timor, the Bank Bali scandal and the dropped investigation of former President Suharto as well as the country's political and economic reforms. The reaction of the members of the country's highest legislative body, or the MPR, to Habibie's speech after being in power for 512 days is crucial to his chances of being re-elected.
[On October 16, the South China Morning Post reported Wiranto as saying that the military should have a political role because political parties tended to overlook the national interest as they fought over their narrower concerns. Quoted in the Straits Times he said "The majority of politicians are too self-centred," citing as an example that it took the military to initiate a meeting of all party leaders to encourage all sides to agree not to take their political battles to the streets - James Balowski.]