Suharto Sworn In; Aide Elected Indonesia’s Vice President

President Suharto was sworn in for a fifth term Friday and a tussle over Indonesia’s vice presidency was settled at the last minute with the dramatic withdrawal of a minor party challenger.

Suharto, 66, pledged in his inaugural speech to the 1,000-member People’s Consultative Assembly to serve the full five years of his term to complete “the task of history which is to usher our nation into the takeoff stage” of development.

The assembly urged the former general to crack down on corruption and abuse of power, promote democracy and strengthen the legislature.

Suharto’s set-piece reelection was overshadowed by an unprecedented fight for the vice presidency between his longtime deputy, State Secretary Sudharmono, and the feisty chairman of the Muslim-based United Development Party, Jailani Naro.

The Assembly was preparing for what politicians feared would have been a divisive vote, a first for the vice presidency, when a spokesman for the United Development Party read a letter of withdrawal from Naro, a 59-year-old lawyer.

Sudharmono was then elected vice president by acclamation. Sudharmono, a retired army lieutenant general and a military lawyer by training, was the candidate of the ruling Golkar party.

Golkar wanted to avoid a vote because the People’s Consultative Assembly prefers to reach unanimous decisions based on consensus in a country where there is no formal political opposition.

Suharto, who has ruled this country of 170 million people for 22 years after rising to power by helping to crush a Communist-backed coup attempt, has stood unopposed since then.