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Report: Indonesian president plans to hold elections within year

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Indonesians return home with new hopes after fleeing the country during the past two weeks of riots and protests  

Expatriates return home

May 24, 1998
Web posted at: 12:47 p.m. EDT (1647 GMT)

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Indonesia's new President Jusuf Habibie plans to hold a general election within one year, top opposition leader Amien Rais reportedly said Sunday.

Reuters said Rais told reporters that Habibie made the pledge in a meeting he held Saturday night with several other opposition leaders. Rais apparently said Habibie would announce the plan in "a couple of days."

Meanwhile, incoming flights to Jakarta were packed over the weekend with Indonesians returning home to what they hope is a more stable political environment.

"We didn't want to go. We didn't want to leave our dogs and our house, or anything," said Danish businessman Torben Olsen, who fled the country with his Indonesian wife and their two young children nine days ago.

"But I didn't feel comfortable about the situation, so I think it was the right thing to do."

Olsen is one of a number of Indonesian expatriates who returned to calmer streets and a new leader. Many Indonesians, mostly from Medan, fled to Penang, a Chinese-majority state, to escape the violence that left more than 500 people dead, shops looted and town centers in ruins.

The rioting and looting followed large student protests against the policies of President Suharto, who resigned Thursday.

The autocratic Suharto, who ruled Indonesia for 32 years, was replaced by his friend and vice president, Habibie. As president, Habibie has promised to introduce political reforms and boost the economy.

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The Olson family  

IMF 'encouraged' by leadership change

Representatives of the International Monetary Fund on Sunday stopped short of offering a speedy resumption of aid to boost Indonesia's ailing economy but did offer cautious support for the new government.

"We are encouraged and pleased that President Habibie is determined to carry the economic reform process forward," said Kadhim Al-Eyd, the IMF representative in Indonesia.

Indonesia needs dollars to get its bankrupt companies working again and keep the specter of sovereign default at bay. The IMF has put together a $41.2 billion rescue package in return for radical economic reforms.

Habibie's new government has pledged to move the IMF reform program forward.

But the new president's unofficial spokeswoman has pleaded for time for him to tackle a "gigantic task" in righting an economy in which inflation and unemployment are soaring, and the rupiah has lost 80 percent of its value against the dollar.

"There should be a calming down period in which we allow this government to do what it has promised to do," Dewi Fortuna Anwar said.

Habibie
Habibie  

Pressure to release prisoners

Habibie also faces demands from several dozen prominent political prisoners that they be freed.

"We strongly refuse the use of the word 'amnesty,'" said Sri Bintang Pampungkas, in a statement on behalf of political prisoners sentenced during the Suharto regime.

"The correct word should be 'freed from any conditions at all,' as freedom is really our right," he said.

Habibie has not made clear what will happen to Suharto's jailed critics.

In his inaugural address, Habibie said he would include a revision of the 1963 subversion law in his reform program but did not mention releasing political prisoners.

CNN Hong Kong Bureau Chief Mike Chinoy and Reuters contributed to this report.

 
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