(13 Oct 1999) Eng/Indonesian

President B-J Habibie has invited Indonesia's military chief, General Wiranto, to be his
vice-presidential running mate.

The move is designed to boost his flagging chances of retaining the presidency on October 20 in a vote by the People's Consultative Assembly.

Habibie, who has pushed through democratic reforms despite links to the authoritarian past, knows he needs the army's support to govern crisis-ridden Indonesia in the future.

Early on Wednesday morning, the ruling Golkar Party stuck by its nomination of B-J Habibie as its presidential candidate.

The show of support came even as the president is expected to have a hard time defeating two other politicians when the assembly votes next week.

On Thursday, Habibie must give an "accountability" speech detailing his achievements and failings during the 16 months since he took over from Suharto.

The assembly, Indonesia's highest legislative body, has the power to reject the contents of the speech.

If it does, Habibie would have little choice but to withdraw his nomination for the presidency.

And it is widely expected that Golkar may re-examine its position after the president's accountability speech the following day.

Indonesia's 700-member People's Consultative Assembly will select a head of state on October 20 and a deputy the following day.

The partly-elected, partly-appointed legislature contains 38 seats controlled by the military and some other seats are held by former military officers.

Fighting for his political life, Habibie on Wednesday decided to choose Indonesia's military chief, General Wiranto, as his vice-presidential running mate.

The president admitted he needed support from the powerful armed forces to govern crisis-ridden Indonesia.

Golkar yielded to Habibie's wishes.

The party had previously indicated it would support four candidates, including Wiranto.

Party chairman Akbar Tandjung was among the others, as well as former financial minister Ginandjar Kartasasmita and the sultan of Yogyakarta.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Our candidate for the presidency is Mr Habibie and the nomination for the vice-presidency was four people. One of the people was General Wiranto and we recommended to our candidate, professor B-J Habibie, which one he prefers as vice-president and this morning, he already decided that he preferred General Wiranto as vice-president."
SUPER CAPTION: Akbar Tandjung, Golkar Party Chairman

However, it remains unclear whether Wiranto will accept.

Wiranto's selection could improve Habibie's chances of being re-elected - the general has emerged as one of the most powerful political figures in Indonesia since the resignation in May 1998 of Habibie's predecessor, authoritarian president Suharto.

Several parties have approached him to be a vice presidential candidate and sources say it is clear he has high political ambitions.

On the other hand, Habibie's popularity has sunk because of the East Timor crisis as well as a bank corruption scandal involving members of his inner circle.

His close links to Suharto, who escaped prosecution on Monday on allegations of massive corruption due to insufficient evidence, has drawn acute criticism from his opponents such as Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of Indonesia's founding president, Sukarno.

Abdurrahman Wahid, popularly known as Gusdur, heads the nation's largest Islamic organisation and is a key opponent of Golkar.

But on Wednesday evening, he held talks with Wiranto and Habibie, suggesting the two sides are on amicable terms.



SOUNDBITE: (Indonesian)


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