Jakarta – General Wiranto, the former Indonesian military commander blamed for the violence surrounding East Timor's 1999 independence vote, emerged Friday as a possible vice-president if President Abdurrahman Wahid is forced to quit.
The Kompas daily said Wiranto, who retired from the military last year and has long harboured political ambitions, had been proposed for the post by a Muslim youth group, the Alliance of Muslim Youth for Moral Politics (AMPPI).
Wiranto, protege of former ruler Suharto, served in Wahid's cabinet as security minister up until February 2000 but was forced to step down after the national human rights commission said he was "morally responsible" for the violence in East Timor.
A UN probe also concluded that Wiranto should be held to account for the military's failure to reign in the militias that went on a violent rampage after East Timor voted for independence in August 1999. But the general was not included on a list of 19 people named as potential suspects in Indonesia's own official investigation into the violence.
Kompas said another retired general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, former justice minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra and former welfare minister Hamzah Haz were also possible candidates for the post.
The job will become vacant in the event of Wahid being impeached and replaced by the current vice-president, Megawati Sukarnoputri. Parliament is scheduled to decide Wahid's fate at a special sesssion on August 1. He stands accused of misrule and involvement in two financial scandals, charges he denies.
Yudhoyono, who served until recently as Wahid's senior security minister, is known as a military academic and commands wide respect among civilians.
Haz is the chairman of the Muslim-based United Development Party (PPP), while Mahendra also heads another Muslim-based party, the Crescent and Star (PBB) – both known to have fanatical youth wings.
Both parties are members of the Central Axis, an alliance of Muslim parties, who in 1999 threw their vote behind Wahid to keep Megawati from the presidency because of her gender. Megawati is the chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party Struggle (PDIP), which leaders have been at the forefront of moves to impeach Wahid by leading three votes in parliament this year to censure him.
Another strong candidate, Kompas said, was the chairman of the lower house (DPR), Akbar Tanjung, who on Thursday received endorsement from 27 regional chapters of his powerful Golkar party.
Kompas quoted Tanjung as saying that he would rather remain as House Speaker and Golkar chairman, but that since Golkar was a political organization, he must also "heed the regions' aspirations." "I will of course listen to [aspirations] from the regions, but whether or not I will fulfill their request, it remains to be seen. It is not an easy decision," Tanjung said.
On Thursday, five West Nusa Tenggara-based legislators from the Regional Faction of the MPR also "individually" endorsed Haz and former Golkar MP, Siswono Yudo Husodo, as their candidates. Husodo, was housing minister under former dictator Suharto's administration in the mid 1980s.
All the potential candidates have shied away from public statements on the vice presidency, saying it would be "unethical" to comment before the job was definitely available.