Civil, military meeting to discuss nation's problems

Bogor, NU Online
A number of civil and military figures met in Sentul, Bogor regency, West Java province, on Wednesday afternoon, to discus various problems facing the nation.

"The meeting discussed various problems facing the country, and tried to find a solution," Yasril Ananta Baharuddin, Golkar central executive board co-chairman, which hosted the meeting, said.<>

"The meeting has no political purposes to build power," he added.

The meeting was a continuation of the first one held on May 5, 2007, the moments when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was at the height of a "second edition" cabinet reshuffle.

The Sentul meeting was attended by Sys NS, former founder of the Democrats Party who has established the NKRI (Indonesian Unitary State) Party, former Army Chief of Staff General (ret.) Ryamizard Ryacudu, former Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) board member Dimyati Hartono, Solahudin "Gus Solah" Wahid, HS Dilon, and former Deputy Army Chief of Staff Lt Gen (ret.) Kiki Syahnakrie.

He also disclosed that the meeting was initiated by Bambang Sulastomo, who is the son of national hero Bung Tomo, Sys NS, Untung Yani, son of national hero General Ahmad Yani, and Halida Hatta, one of the daughters of Indonesia’s first vice president, and several other figures like Yakob, Maria, Adhie Massardi, and artist Ray Sahetapy.

The national problems discussed in the second meeting covered the political, defense, security, social, cultural, and economic sectors in the country.

"The result of the meeting, including problem solving, will be published in a small book for presentation to the government and the general public on July 7, 2007," Yasril Ananta Baharudin said.

One of the military leaders invited to both meetings, former Deputy Army Chief of Staff Lt Gen (ret) Kiki Syahnakrie, told ANTARA after the conclusion of the first meeting early in May 2007, the meeting has no intention to put a political pressure on the government, but merely focused on the current government system.

When asked for an elaboration, he said that if the government is still run on the prevailing government system based on the amended 1945 Constitution, whoever the President and other leaders including the governors, regency heads, and mayor, will have difficulties in performing their duties," and correction and improvement would therefore be necessary.

"But I wish that the latest amendment should be made after the 2009 general election," the former Bali military commander said.

He also said that what is happening now, namely following the amendment to the Constitution, is a change of the family economic system into a liberal economy, which is posing a serious threat to small-scale business undertakings.

According to Kiki Syahnakrie, who is now president commissioner of the Artha Graha business group, the relinquishment of a number of strategic enterprises like Indosat, the presence of world retail trading corporations like Carrefour, clearly showed that economic liberalism is threatening national self-sufficiency.

In the banking sector, he added, only a few private banks are not owned by foreign interests, he said.

Under these circumstances, he said, the meeting had also decided that similar meetings would be held on a regular basis in the coming years, to discuss such problems but in greater detail, with the results published in working papers for scientific and academic discussion. (dar)