A redundant love<\/p>\n
The majority of people seemed lost for words this week after
\nthe government's insensitive plan to fork out Rp 26.5 billion
\n(US$1.7 million) on a retirement home for former president
\nSoeharto became public knowledge.<\/p>\n
The plan was announced by Minister\/State Secretary Akbar
\nTandjung in the midst of an economic catastrophe. It is worth
\nnoting that the minister is President B.J. Habibie's most
\nfrequent spokesman.<\/p>\n
Political observers and some members of the House of
\nRepresentatives denounced the decision as inappropriate and said
\nit was unwise to approve frivolous expenditure at a time when the
\ngovernment is facing an unprecedented monetary crisis and people
\nare starving.<\/p>\n
This decision must have been felt like a stab in the heart by
\nthe 80 million people living under the poverty line and the
\nparents of six million children who have failed to enroll in
\nprimary school this year because of the ruinous state of the
\neconomy.<\/p>\n
The ugly reality is that the government remained unmoved
\ndespite the outcry and decided that the show must go on. Akbar
\nsaid the authorities were aware of the economic crisis, but added
\n"that shouldn't lessen our appreciation of Pak Harto."<\/p>\n
We strongly believe that the decision, regardless of its
\nlegality, is terribly untimely. Soeharto, who lives in a large
\nbungalow surrounded by his immensely wealthy children in the
\nfirst class area of Menteng in Central Jakarta, does not need a
\nhouse at this moment in time. Nor is he in financial trouble
\nbecause he paid for the construction of the 3,000 square meter
\nmansion, built on a one hectare site near his museum in East
\nJakarta, all by himself.<\/p>\n
Only people with a low capability for rational thought believe
\nthat the former president of the most corrupt country in Asia
\nlives only on his Rp 15 million (US$1,000) monthly pension, as he
\nhimself has repeatedly claimed.<\/p>\n
If the government was concerned that Soeharto had spent his
\nway into trouble by financing the construction of the mansion by
\nhimself then that was a most naive presumption because Soeharto
\ndeclined to accept the offer, as Akbar announced yesterday.<\/p>\n
Moreover, Soeharto has not yet filed a law suite against
\nForbes magazine for repeatedly printing stories accusing him of
\namassing stakes in about 3,200 Indonesian companies and a family
\nfortune worth $4 billion during the 32 years of his despotic
\nrule. This newfound tolerance is surprising in a man who banned
\n30 newspapers and magazines when he was in power.<\/p>\n
The most likely reason behind the government determination to
\npay for Soeharto's mansion was not only to demonstrate its
\nsincere appreciation of the former head of state but also because
\nof a superfluous feeling of love held for him by his successor,
\nwho once called him his professor of politics.<\/p>\n
In the words of former Golkar secretary-general Rachmat
\nWitoelar, granting Soeharto the money shows that the key decision
\nmakers in the cabinet are still Soeharto loyalists with no sense
\nof crisis.<\/p>\n
So now Indonesians should brace themselves for some more pro-
\nSoeharto policies, for example a sham probe into Soeharto's
\nassets -- which are believed to have been illegally accumulated
\n-- as another token of redundant love.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/a-redundant-love-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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