By IPS Correspondents
JAKARTA, May 28 1998 (IPS)

Indonesia’s Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie remains the object of deep mistrust a week into his fragile presidency — but he is also getting grudging approval for moves toward democratisation and political reform.

So far, Habibie, who was handed the presidency by Suharto when he quit under popular pressure on May 21, has not succeeded in regaining international confidence in Indonesia’s battered economy.

But his decisions in the past week — announcing new polls, freeing political prisoners and talking with opposition leaders — have brought some cautious relief from sceptics at home who have been gauging his commitment to reform or ‘reformasi’.

Whether or not Habibie genuinely believes in such changes, critics like Amien Rais, leader of the Muslim organisation Muhammadiyah that played a key role in anti-Suharto protests, said the new president’s actions have so far been encouraging.

“He is opening political channels that were plugged up in the past,” he said.

“Habibie embraced critical figures who under Suharto’s regime were sidelined. He listened to them. I and my colleagues no longer have a barrier with the government. A good wind is blowing,” Rais observed.

Many of the steps taken by the government would have even unthinkable weeks ago, and they overturn the very pillars of Suharto’s authoritarian rule.

Habibie’s government has also taken the first steps toward investigating the business interests linked to Suharto’s family and friends, including tax breaks they obtained.

Hours after he was sworn in as president, Habibie called staunch oppositionist and Muslim leader Amien Rais to his residence and asked him to keep up the reform movement.

He also met other opposition figures to discuss an agenda for reformation, including parliamentary elections to be held in six to 12 months.

On Monday, Habibie announced clemency for two political prisoners, Sri Bintang Pamungkas and independent labour leader Mukhtar Pakpahan.

Pamungkas, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for defaming Suharto last year. Pakpahan was jailed for organising workers and supposedly instigating a labour rally that fueled riots in Medan in 1996. Five other political prisoners were to be released Thursday.

“That is a right and wise decision by the new government,” said Ali Sadikin, chairman of Legal Aid Foundation.

Habibie’s supporters say he is fully aware of the pressures on him, not least the fact that critics have dismissed him as ‘Suharto Jr’ due to his friendship with his political mentor.

Habibie’s first act as president was to name a Cabinet that has members from both the Suharto era and respected names from academe and other groups. At its first meeting, the Cabinet drew up what Information Minister Junus Josfiah called “more concrete steps toward total reform in all fields”.

“The government has decided to prepare new political rules and electoral system. More political parties may be allowed to contest in the upcoming poll,” he said. New political and election rules will be ready within four months, he added.

The government also plans to review the anti-subversion law, which has been used to throw numerous political activists and critics into prison through Suharto’s 32-year rule.

It will also take a second look at laws that control the press, and drop a ministerial decree that allows the state to revoke publishing licenses.

Speaking to the press Wednesday, Josfiah hinted that the government may allow three publications it banned in 1994 — ‘Tempo’, ‘Editor’ and ‘DeTik’ — to be brought back to life.

“The idea is that the government agrees to revive the three defunct publications. What we are thinking about now is how to do it — to review the old decisions (revoking press licenses) or to issue new press licenses for them,” Josfiah said.

A reversal of these decisions would be even more remarkable when viewed against the fact that magazines like ‘Tempo’ were banned by then information minister Harmoko — the House Speaker who gave Suharto a deadline to step down or face impeachment proceedings.

Harmoko had banned ‘Tempo’ for reporting on alleged irregularities in Indonesia’s purchase of ships from the former East Germany — a deal that had been made by no less than Habibie, who was then research and technology minister.

Also this week, Habibie visited riot-stricken areas of Jakarta in order to try to ease the fears of Chinese Indonesians targeted by recent riots.

The Habibie Cabinet has also pledged to purge collusion, nepotism and other forms of inefficiency and pay more attention to small and medium scale businesses and cooperatives.

In keeping with calls for a thorough dismantling of Suharto’s corrupt order, Habibie and top military officials had themselves come under fire for their business holdings and their relatives’ business and posts in government bodies.

This week, Habibie’s son Ilham quit his post as assistant to chief of the Agency for the Assessment and Innovation of Technology. Ilham followed his uncle, Junus Effendi Habibie, who resigned as head of Batam Industrial Development Authority.

Likewise, Defense Minister and military chief Gen Wiranto said his wife Uga and daughter Amalia Sianti have resigned from the People’s Consultative Assembly, the 1,000-member body that meets every five years to elect a new president and vice president.

Relatives of other government officials, including the wife of Harmoko, have also quit and more are expected to follow. Half of the MPR’s members were appointed by Suharto, who had named his children and children-in-law to it.

The week’s swift changes have allowed previously marginalised groups to rush into the suddenly open socio-political arena.

Hours after his release from prison, Pamungkas said his party, the Indonesian Democracy Union, would soon register with the home ministry and join the next poll contest.

“I am about to start campaign to all over the country for reform of the 1945 Constitution,” he told students of the University of Indonesia Tuesday.

“Some articles in the Constitution place the executive and the President above the legislative and legal bodies. These articles have always been manipulated by both Suharto and Sukarno to legitimise their authoritarian rule,” Pamungkas said.

He added he would campaign against the military’s role in social and political affairs, which is enshrined in the charter.

Two other groups, including one belonging to the ruling Golkar Party, also said they are ready to challenge the ruling party in future elections.

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