Akbar chides Amien for public excuse

JAKARTA (JP): Minister/State Secretary Akbar Tandjung has chastised Amien Rais for boycotting Friday's conferment of Mahaputra medals by President B.J. Habibie after accepting the invitation to the event, and for later broadcasting his excuse to the media.

Amien should have told the state secretariat that he had changed his mind about attending, rather than making the announcement through the mass media, Akbar was quoted by Antara as saying.

"He had formally accepted and said he would attend. That's why all affairs related to the conferment had been arranged accordingly. He did not show up, the state secretariat... was not told," Akbar said Saturday after attending Habibie's state of the nation speech at the House of Representatives/People's Consultative Assembly.

"We regret his failure to attend. We regret even more the fact that he did not tell the government directly, but went to the press about why he did not attend," Akbar said.

He pointed out the importance of the presentation as it was held in connection with the 53rd commemoration of Independence Day. Amien could have asked that his conferment be postponed, for instance, as have a number of people who refused to be honored outright.

"That would have been better than accepting the honor and then failing to show up," he said.

Amien said Friday he planned to attend and accept the Mahaputra, Indonesia's second highest honor, but later changed his mind after he learned that several recipients were chosen in a manner which smacked of "nepotism."

Among the recipients of the medal from Habibie were his wife Hasri Ainun Besari, his brother Junus Effendy Habibie, and a number of his close aides.

Akbar justified the honor for Ainun on the grounds that the latter had accompanied Habibie when he was vice president and about to accept presidency from Soeharto on May 21.

"She is the first lady who is there (for the president) in good times and bad. She deserved the honor," he argued.

Junus Effendy Habibie, a former ambassador to Great Britain and twice director general in government ministries, deserved the honor because of his service to the country.

"If people have negative views about the honor, that's no problem. What's important is the fact that he did contribute to the country. That's an undeniable fact," Akbar said. (swe)