A.M. Saefuddin apologizes over statement on Megawati

JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Food and Horticulture A.M. Saefuddin apologized on Tuesday for his remark last week which some people said insulted Hindu and Balinese people, saying he had not intended to humiliate anyone.

"People who came to the conclusion that I intended to harass a certain religion made a wrong interpretation," the minister said after meeting President B.J. Habibie at Merdeka Palace.

Saefuddin said last week that the popular chairwoman of the splintered Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), Megawati Soekarnoputri, was a Hindu because she often visited and prayed in Hindu temples in Bali.

"Are Indonesian people willing to have a president who is a Hindu?" said the politician from the United Development Party (PPP) before attending a weekly cabinet meeting last week.

The remarks sparked such widespread anger in Bali that many people demonstrated to demand that Habibie sack him, and that Bali Governor Dewa Made Beratha bar him from entering the tourist island.

Megawati, a Moslem, often visits Bali, because her paternal grandmother Idaju was Balinese. Hinduism is the dominant religion on the island.

The congress of the unrecognised faction of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) was also recently held in Bali. Megawati was officially nominated as the party's presidential candidate.

"I will be very happy if any citizen, regardless of race, political orientation or religion, becomes a presidential candidate," Saefuddin remarked on Tuesday.

Hundreds of people staged demonstrations in Bali on Monday and Tuesday to demand the minister apologize and resign. Some even threatened to boycott next year's general election.

The chairman of Bali's Indonesian Hindu Dharma Council (PHDI), I Made Titib, said on Tuesday that all Hindus were very hurt by Saefuddin's statement.

"It is very regretful that an intellectual like him has such a narrow-minded perception," Antara quoted him as saying.

"As a Balinese Hindu, I am of course offended by the minister's statement," Governor Dewa Made Beratha said on Monday.

The governor promised to deliver the people's protest directly to the President.

Saefuddin, a professor of agriculture, is known as a humorous politician. He has also often sparked controversy.

He recently said the Attorney General did not only need to probe the wealth of former president Soeharto but also Habibie, himself and other cabinet ministers.

He also boasted that he was more fluent than Habibie in German because he used the language when he dreamed. (prb)