Soeharto: A soldier who never abandons the battlefield<\/p>\n
Soeharto and B.J. Habibie are the names likely to steal
\nheadlines in the coming days. They are the sole candidates for
\npresident and vice president respectively in the ongoing session
\nof the People's Consultative Assembly. Sri Wahyuni explores the
\nbackgrounds of the two statesmen in the following articles.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Barring major catastrophe, the People's
\nConsultative Assembly will reelect and swear in President
\nSoeharto to his seventh consecutive term on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Soeharto has indicated several times his reluctance to take
\nanother term at Indonesia's helm, citing his wish to lengser
\nkeprabon, madeg pandhita. The Javanese term means he is willing
\nto step down and act as pundit, instead, to his successor.<\/p>\n
But Golkar insisted on renominating him. And the economic
\ncrisis helped steer Soeharto for another term in office because,
\nas some loyalists had observed, he is a soldier who would never
\nabandon the battlefield.<\/p>\n
Successful development programs and political stability had
\nbeen the hallmark of Soeharto's previous six five-year terms of
\noffice. But this time around, the economic crisis and the
\ndeclining confidence in the government may prove to be his
\ntoughest battlefield.<\/p>\n
Political observer Arbi Sanit, of the University of Indonesia,
\npointed at various flaws and glitches in Soeharto's
\nadministration that have become apparent over the past several
\nyears.<\/p>\n
"The monetary crisis and the decline in the people's trust in
\nthe government are obviously waiting for him to handle them,"
\nArbi said.<\/p>\n
Soeharto himself, in his accountability speech before the
\n1,000 members of the People's Consultative Assembly last Sunday,
\nacknowledged the challenges.<\/p>\n
"But, we had to go through a much harder trial. Since the
\nmiddle of last year, the monetary turmoil has hit us so
\nunexpectedly. The region was engulfed in a financial crisis. Then
\nit became eventually more serious ...," he said.<\/p>\n
Arbi and several colleagues passed on the blame to Soeharto's
\naides, whom they said lacked capability and had poor
\ncoordination.<\/p>\n
He said the cabinet ministers had failed to accommodate
\nsocietal changes, which were actually the result of development
\ncarried out by Soeharto's administration. He also said the
\ndevelopment had been concentrated on economic growth at the
\nexpense of political development.<\/p>\n
"As a result, those cabinet ministers were not prepared to
\naccommodate, they even rejected, changes."<\/p>\n
Better<\/p>\n
Political observer Marzuki Darusman agreed, adding that the
\nfirst five administrations were considerably better than the last
\nterm -- at least in its final years.<\/p>\n
He said one of the factors responsible for the situation was
\nthat the outgoing cabinet comprised people from backgrounds too
\ndiverse.<\/p>\n
"This never happened before, and the (lack of cohesiveness)
\ncaused the cabinet to be ineffective," Marzuki said.<\/p>\n
Political observer Amir Santoso, who is also a Golkar
\nlegislator, agreed.<\/p>\n
"I see the imperfection of the outgoing government is caused
\nby the incapability of the aides in interpreting Pak Harto's
\nwill. It's certainly not Pak Harto's fault," said Amir, who is
\nalso a lecturer at the University of Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Another shortcoming of the outgoing cabinet, according to
\nAmir, was poor coordination among ministers. "You can see this in
\nthe numerous instances ministers gave different explanations
\nabout one issue," he said.<\/p>\n
However, Amir admires the way Soeharto has been dealing with
\nthe crisis. "As always, he does not panic and is able to manage
\nthe pressure from the IMF," he said. The International Monetary
\nFund has pledged a US$43 billion rescue package in exchange for
\nIndonesia's economic reform.<\/p>\n
Amir believes the crisis has indirectly proved Soeharto's
\nsuperiority from other world leaders. "During this time of
\ncrisis, it is other world leaders who visit him and offer help,
\nnot the other way around," he said.<\/p>\n
"Basically, he is a great leader who has successfully united
\nthis big country and turned it into a relatively prosperous one.
\nAbout the monetary crisis, it not happening only in Indonesia, is
\nit?"<\/p>\n
Key<\/p>\n
For the past 30 years in Indonesian history, regardless of the
\ncrisis facing him, Soeharto was indeed the key figure.<\/p>\n
He successfully established a systematic development framework
\n-- known as the Five-Year Development Program (Pelita) -- to
\naccelerate growth while trying to accommodate political changes.
\nIt was through this groundwork that he gradually established
\nstability throughout the country.<\/p>\n
His achievement in economic development was considered by many
\nas stunning. He restored the economy from the shambles inherited
\nfrom the late president Sukarno's Old Order government, and built
\nit into what was, until recently, called Asia's miracle.<\/p>\n
He brought the agricultural Indonesia into the era of
\nindustrialization, so that it is now called a newly
\nindustrialized country.<\/p>\n
Poverty<\/p>\n
Born on June 8, 1921, in the small village of Kemusuk, Godean,
\neight kilometers west of Yogyakarta, Soeharto was brought up
\nmostly by relatives. His mother, Sukirah, and his father,
\nKertosudiro, divorced a couple of years after he was born, but
\nremarried later.<\/p>\n
After being bundled from one relative to another, he was later
\nadopted by his uncle, Prawirowihardjo (the father of business
\ntycoon Sudwikatmono) who taught him much about agriculture.<\/p>\n
He lived his childhood in poverty and spent most of his days
\ncattle grazing. This was the life that, later on, accounted for
\nhis great attention to the development of agriculture and animal
\nhusbandry in the country. After he became President, one of his
\noutstanding features is his ability to talk for hours with
\nfarmers, joke with them and explain in simple language how to
\nincrease their harvest.<\/p>\n
During his school years, Soeharto learned Islam in a mosque
\nnear to his home. He graduated from a Muhammadiyah Islamic school
\nin 1939 and became a bank clerk.<\/p>\n
He got bored, and, switching direction, joined the Dutch
\ncolonial army and became a corporal.<\/p>\n
During the Japanese occupation in the early 1940s, he joined
\nthe Japanese-trained Indonesian army. After Japan surrendered, he
\nfought the Dutch with the Indonesian guerrillas.<\/p>\n
In 1957, by then a colonel, he took command of the important
\nDiponegoro Army division (later renamed Diponegoro Military
\nCommand) in Central Java and became Army deputy chief of staff in
\n1961.<\/p>\n
In 1965, he headed the Army's Strategic Reserves Command, a
\ncrack force which he mobilized when a group of communist-backed
\narmy officers killed six top generals and briefly seized
\ngovernment installations. With the force he crushed the coup
\nattempt.<\/p>\n
After the bloodshed, with tens of thousands of people dead, he
\nsucceeded in convincing president Sukarno to outlaw the powerful
\nIndonesian Communist Party, the third largest in the world at
\nthat time.<\/p>\n
Soeharto was named acting president in 1967. The following
\nyear he was installed as President by the Provisional People's
\nConsultative Assembly.<\/p>\n
In 1947, he married Siti Hartinah -- who died in April 1996 --
\nand they had three daughters and three sons, all are married.<\/p>\n
There were rumors last year that Soeharto would remarry after
\nthe wedding of his youngest son Hutomo Mandala Putra to Ardhia
\nPramesti Regita Cahyani. His half-brother, Probosutedjo, doused
\nthe rumors effectively by saying it was impossible for Soeharto
\nto remarry as it would affect his relationship with his children.<\/p>\n
To maintain his stamina, Soeharto plays golf and occasionally
\ntennis, or goes fishing in the Jakarta Bay waters. He also likes
\nto spend his leisure time visiting his farm in Tapos, Bogor, West
\nJava.<\/p>\n
Soeharto is known to have a very "Javanese way" of dealing
\nwith people. For instance, he expresses disagreement and
\ndissatisfaction discreetly. Outgoing Minister\/State Secretary
\nMoerdiono once said that so gently and subtly does Soeharto
\ndeliver his rebuke that the people in question sometimes
\nmisinterpret the reprimand as praise.<\/p>\n
Accommodative<\/p>\n
For political scientist Riswandha Imawan of Yogyakarta-based
\nGadjah Mada University, Soeharto now seems to have placed himself
\nas a senior leader willing to cooperate with and accommodate the
\nwill of the people.<\/p>\n
"He wants to be more of a supervisor, one who provides
\nvisions, rather than a ruler," Riswandha said.<\/p>\n
This stance would enable new players to enter Indonesia's
\npolitical game, he said.<\/p>\n
Riswandha believes that a succession would take place in 2003.<\/p>\n
"His (Soeharto's) toughest task now is preparing a peaceful
\nsuccession. I'm sure he will make it, so long as nothing happens
\nto him before 2003," he said.<\/p>\n
He added, however, that if "something happens" to Soeharto
\nbefore he finishes his seventh term, there could be a political
\nturbulence.<\/p>\n
Marzuki Darusman has a different view.<\/p>\n
"I don't think this will be Soeharto's last term. I see no
\nrealistic reason for such an idea. I do believe that as long as
\nSoeharto feels that he is healthy enough (to rule the country),
\nhe will certainly express his readiness to hold another term," he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
"The hope that there will be significant changes in
\nIndonesia's political life, therefore, is not likely to occur,"
\nhe added.<\/p>\n
But Marzuki believed that should Habibie be the vice
\npresident, with regard to his closeness to Soeharto, the
\npolitical communication in the country would find another door to
\npass input through.<\/p>\n
"Whether the inputs will be pictured in the outputs, that's
\nanother question," he said.<\/p>",
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