---------------------------------------------------------- FREE for JOIN Indonesia Daily News Online via EMAIL: go to: http://www.indo-news.com/subscribe.html - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- ANTARA, AUG 6 1999 Politics: No Matter Who Becomes President, RI To Remain In Free Of Violence, Says Ausssie Observer Surabaya, E Java, Aug 5 (ANTARA)-No matter who is elected president, there will be no violence in Indonesia as the Indonesian Defence Forces (TNI) is not likely to resort to a coup d'etat to maintain security, an Australian political observer said. "Whether Habibie or Megawati is the president, I believe there will be no violence. As for the TNI, I think, it would be impossible for it to stage a coup d'etat," Indonesianist Lance Castle told newsmen after a seminar themed "The Strength of the Opposition in Indonesia," here Thursday. Castle, who is a guest lecturer at Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University, expressed the believe that neither Habibie nor Megawati would employ violent methods to grab the presidential seat in November. "Indonesia will become a democratic country. Coup de'etats and violence are no longer a popular method to gain power. The international community including the United States wants Indonesia to implement a democratic system," he said. The professor from Melbourne-based Monash University said it seemed that Washington would be able to accept a combination government because both Habibie and Megawati only won a "thin majority" of votes. Meanwhile, the TNI was likelyto give its support to those forces promoting democracy in Indonesia, he said. "So, the TNI too is inclined to want the establishment of a democratic system in Indonesia and to reject the past system in which the military merely served as bodyguards of those in power. I attach great hope to a union between the TNI and the Ciganjur group," Castle said. Ciganjur was the place in Jakarta where Megawati Soekarnoputri, Abdurrahman Wahid, Amien Rais and Yogyakarta's Sultan Hamengkubuwono X met late last year to issue a joint statement on the political situation. Asked about the likely political constellation after the general session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), Castle said this was hard to predict but he felt certain that Indonesia would become a democratic country. If the various political forces in the country letely appeared to be jockeying for power, this was only normal. This also happened in established democracies such as the United States, Britain and India. "But eventually things are resolved in a democratic way," Castle said. (T/SBY-08/NN-06/16:29/INT-AJM-20:15/NN01/21:07/TB02) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 10 Aug 1999 jam 10:54:55 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
