A'an Suryana and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Political leaders asserted on Friday that reform had moved at a snail's pace over the past five years, and that fresh leadership blood was needed to salvage and accelerate reform in the country.
The leaders – Amien Rais of the National Mandate Party (PAN), Rachmawati of the Pioneer Party, and former Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto – called for regime change during a discussion organized to evaluate reform movements in the past five years at the Islamic Students Alumni Community (KAHMI) headquarters in Jakarta.
Rachmawati, a nationalist and daughter of Indonesia's first president Sukarno, said the current government had failed to put into practice the reform dream, fought for by students five years ago. "The reform process has been stagnant," said Rachmawati, who is also a younger sister of President Megawati Soekarnoputri.
Corruption, an evil that the reform movement hated most, has gone unchecked under Megawati's administration.
According to Rachmawati, in order to rescue Indonesia a change of leadership was required. She did not mention who might replace Megawati. Amien concurred with Rachmawati, saying that a change of leadership was needed to overcome current problems plaguing the nation.
"A Malay society always heeds its leaders, so a good leader will produce a good society, and vice versa. Therefore, in order to improve Indonesia, change must begin with the top leadership," said Amien, who is currently also chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).
The discussion was part of a weekly discussion held by KAHMI, and Friday's discussion was moderated by KAHMI chairman Fuad Bawazier.
Fuad is a right-wing Muslim, who organized meetings between Amien Rais and Nadhlatul Ulama leader Abdurrahman Wahid in order to prevent Megawati, the winner of the 1999 general election, from being elected president. This succeeded, as Abdurrahman took the top post.
Friday's discussion raised suspicions that Fuad was again encouraging the three leaders to come together for the 2004 general election. Suspicions were bolstered when Rachmawati openly praised such a coalition, saying that the three best represented the main elements of Indonesian society: nationalists (herself), Muslims (Amien) and the TNI (Wiranto).
However, a possible coalition was dismissed by both Amien and Fuad, who said, "it's too early to discuss a possible coalition." Friday's meeting was the second encounter between Amien and Rachmawati. Amien paid a visit to Rachmawati last week at her house.
The pair plan to attend together a traditional puppet show in Blitar, East Java, on June 1, the hometown of the Sukarno family and where Sukarno's body was buried.
Both Rachmawati and Amien represent Megawati's political nemesis. However, Amien, who tried to persuade Rachmawati to join him in order to enlarge his political base while at the same time erode Megawati's, refused to say whether Rachmawati would accompany him in the presidential race, adding that his election team was discussing the possibility.