By Peter Robson
BRISBANE — Speaking to a full lecture theatre at the University of Queensland, Amien Rais, chairperson of the Partai Amanat Nasional (National Mandate Party of Indonesia), declared himself a candidate for president in Indonesia's May 1999 general election.
Rais described the history of the Suharto regime as "monolithic and authoritarian". When Suharto took over from the Sukarno regime, he said, Suharto was believed to be the saviour of the nation.
Rais made no mention of the bloody coup in which Suharto seized power and in which more than 500,000 people were murdered by the military.
Rais condemned Suharto for failing to uphold the 1945 constitution and for building his own empire at the expense of the Indonesian people. Suharto's New Order regime was "indefensible, based on corruption, collusion and nepotism".
Rais' candidacy was justified, he said, because of his role in criticising the Suharto regime. His criticism and the "courage of the students" were the cause of Suharto's resignation, he claimed.
Rais argued against continuing the mass demonstrations, warning that it would take time to achieve the proper reforms.
"A revolution is a rapid, dramatic social change", he said, "usually with violence ... Thankfully, the students preferred reform to revolution."
Rais' predictions for the future contained many contradictions. He maintained that change could only occur slowly, but also maintained that a new leader must step in quickly and stop the demonstrations before the situation got worse and disintegrated into "anarchy".
He offered no solution to the economic crisis in Indonesia, believing it will be over in two or three years because of Indonesia's rich natural resources. He also made reference to how "competitive" Indonesian workers were, offering no opposition to the exploitation of the Indonesian people.
Rais said the military was "not fully committed to the process of reform", but made no promise to end military involvement in Indonesian politics, even though this is the greatest stumbling block to any successful opposition to the Suharto/Habibie regime.
Orie Nakagawa reports from Sydney that Rais told a September 27 meeting at the Hilton Airport Hotel organised by the 13 May Movement that maintaining and protecting pluralism in Indonesia is important.
Rais insisted that ethnic Chinese should be given equal opportunities under the Indonesian constitution, saying all Indonesians are considered natives if they were born in Indonesia.
Riots in Indonesia in May caused fear among ethnic Chinese, who have been victimised by the Indonesian government's racial regulations, such as a special numbering system in identification papers and passports.
I-Man Theng, chairperson of 13 May Movement, said he hoped the meeting would be a step towards better understanding of the situation of both pribumi ("native") Muslims and ethnic Chinese.
Indonesian commentators predict that PAN, launched by Rais on August 23, will receive about 35% of seats. Rais said it is "too early to talk about forming a [electoral] coalition since every party believes it will win. However, I'll make a coalition with those parties [which] have a similar platform."