By Max lane and a special correspondent in Jakarta
Indonesian President Suharto has begun attempts to counter armed forces (ABRI) headquarters, which last week announced that it intended to nominate former ABRI commander in chief Try Sutrisno as vice-president. Suharto was planning to nominate his current vice-president, Sudharmono.
A close Suharto confidant and state official, cabinet secretary Moerdiono, has been telling people that Suharto is extremely angry about ABRI's announcement.
On February 25, Moerdiono said that the president would soon be signing the papers to take Try Sutrisno off the active list of officers. Although retired from his commander in chief position two weeks earlier, Try remains on the active list and is therefore the most senior of active list officers. In Indonesian military culture this would still enable him to wield considerable authority.
Furthermore, the chair of the government's Golkar party, ex-general Wahono, stated that the vice-presidential candidate should be a senior officer on active service. If Suharto moves over the next few days to fully retire Try, he may have had the rug pulled out from under him in so far as the Golkar nomination goes.
Moerdiono also felt it necessary to deny rumours that there was a split between the Central Council of Golkar, headed by Wahono, who were supporting Try, and the Golkar fraction in the parliament, who wanted to support "another name". Moerdiono insisted that Golkar would come up with one candidate only, and that decision would be made at a Central Council meeting on February 28.
The Suharto-ABRI conflict is now centred inside Golkar. A Jakarta paper, Jayakarta, quoted the head of the Golkar fraction, Azwar Anas, as saying that Golkar would indeed nominate Try.
Wahono expressed anger at Anas' premature statement. However, it appears that Anas and other Golkar figures have made it clear that they will take their nomination to Suharto one day before the People's Deliberative Assembly (MPR), which elects the president and vice-president, for approval. "If he does not approve it, we will push another name that day too."
Following Suharto's counter-moves, observers in Jakarta are beginning to wonder if ABRI will have the resolve to push through
with the nomination of Try. It now becomes a war of nerves and a struggle to win over the civilian establishment. At this stage, neither side has put forward a policy platform.
Worrying for the ABRI side are a series of hardline statements on the need for an expanded military role by former army commander (now commander in chief of ABRI) Edi Sudrajat.He had previously been known for echoing pro-reform statements of younger officers. His current stance may alienate some of the potential civilian support for the anti-Suharto forces.
Probably meant to bolster the morale of the pro-Suharto forces are the preparations for an anniversary gathering of the Army Operations Strategic Command (KOSTRAD) a day after the MPR session and right next door to the MPR building. It is believed that troops will be assembled there in large numbers. The previous commander of KOSTRAD, Wismoyo, now deputy chief of the army, is a cousin-in-law of Suharto, and the current commander is a close friend of Wismoyo.