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Wednesday, May 20, 1998

Suharto pledges to step down

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE  
JAKARTA, May 19: Indonesian President Suharto today pledged to step down after new Parliamentary elections which would be held as soon as possible.``Elections will be implemented as soon as possible,'' Suharto told the nation in a rare live broadcast.

``I state that I am not prepared to be nominated as presidential candidate again,'' he said. Parliamentary elections are usually followed by the formation of a new 1000-member Peoples' Consultative Assembly (MPR) which chooses the President for the next five years.

The President, speaking after meeting with several Muslim leaders, said that to safeguard the nation and the State, he would set up a committee of reform.``I will immediately form a committee of reform whose membership will comprise public figures and academic experts and will have the task of rapidly settling the laws on elections, parties, the legislative anti-monopoly and anti-corruption,'' Suharto said.

Students and intellectuals have been calling for an end to a slew of laws adopted in 1985which control every aspect of political life in the country. The President warned that unless people abided by the Constitution, the nation risked falling apart and could ``possibly also lead to civil war.''

Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.

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