AMIEN RAIS : RI NEEDS NEW LEADER

Yogyakarta, June 23 (ANTARA) - It is time for Indonesia to have a new leader in the current uncertain situation, former National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman Amien Rais said here on Monday.

"The time is ripe for Indonesia to have a new leader," Amien said on the sidelines of a public discussion on "how to save Indonesia."
He said although Indonesia was no longer being colonized by a foreign power, the country was not yet fully independent because it was still at the mercy of foreign powers, especially in the economic field.

Amien said Indonesia had been applying a wrong economic system since President Soeharto's government until the present.

To remedy the situation, the former PAN chairman said, it was time for the country to have a new leader who had the courage to discard the old economic system and to end the country's dependence on the World Bank or other world financial institutions.

"If other countries like India, Venezuela, or Bolivia can do it, I am sure Indonesia can too," Amien said.

Meanwhile, a law expert from Gajah Mada University (UGM), Denny Indrayana, said he shared Amien Rais's views.

He said, in a survey conducted by the Indonesian Survey Institute, respondents were asked to choose between the inncumbent president (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono or SBY) and two former presidents who plan to run again in the upcoming general election. The result showed overwheling support for SBY.

"However, when the question was to choose between SBY and a new leader, most of the respondents said they preferred a new leader" Indrayana said.

"Thus, it is obvious that the people really want an entirely new leader," he added.