Congratulations pour in for reelected President Soeharto

Congratulations pour in for reelected President Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): Prominent local and global figures yesterday
greeted the reelection of President Soeharto for a further five-
year term in office.

Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo extended a warm welcome
to Soeharto's reappointment by the People's Consultative
Assembly. The East Timorese Catholic's leader also congratulated
B.J. Habibie, who the assembly will name vice president today.

"Personally and on behalf of the East Timorese people, I
congratulate Pak Harto, whom Indonesian people have trusted to
lead them into a new millennium that will offer both hopes and
challenges," Belo, the joint 1996 Nobel Peace Prize winner, was
quoted by Antara as saying.

He said the Indonesian people had chosen their best men to
lead the country for the next five years.

"Therefore, everybody should with all their hearts accept (the
two leaders)," said Belo, a persistent critic of the government
over alleged abuses of human rights.

Belo suggested that Indonesia start grooming its leading
national figures for the post-Soeharto era.

"We expect that our future leaders will not only be
intelligent, but will have strong morals and ethics. In the
absence of such basic requirements, a nation will languish and
fall to its ruin," Belo said, adding that Indonesia should learn
from world history.

The issues of clean government and good governance were
prominent during early proceedings of the General Session, with
all five factions in the People's Consultative Assembly
campaigning for the eradication of corruption, collusion and
monopolies.

Belo said the most immediate issue faced by the new
partnership of Soeharto and Habibie would be to lead the country
out of the turmoil of the financial crisis.

"We hope the President and his aides will manage to find a
solution to the crisis soon and will be willing to hear
aspirations from the poor, youths and students. What those people
have been complaining about are very much a reality," he said.

Belo expected the government to implement development programs
which will yield both political and economic achievements in the
next five years.

"Our history has proven that an administration oriented toward
politics caused our economy to become vulnerable, while an
administration oriented toward economic growth slowed political
development," he said.

"I expect President Soeharto to be able to settle the crisis
as soon as possible through fair and internationally accepted
means," Belo added.

The crisis spilled over into Indonesia after first striking in
Thailand last July. There are still no clear signals of an end,
despite a massive international rescue package.

Belo also expressed his long-standing hopes of a resolution to
disputes over East Timor.

World greeting

From Beijing, the People's Republic of China sent warm
congratulations to President Soeharto in a letter from President
Jiang Zemin and Prime Minister Li Peng.

A copy of the letter was made available to The Jakarta Post by
the Chinese Embassy. It said that the two Chinese leaders
expected that Indonesia under Soeharto would step up measures to
end the crisis now gripping Southeast Asia.

They said that the combination of Soeharto's leadership, the
hard efforts of the Indonesian people and help from the
international community would "bring the Indonesian economy back
onto a track toward healthy development."

From Manila, AFP reported that President Fidel Ramos said "I
congratulate him", but refused to say any more.

Other Asian leaders have yet to comment, but Thailand and
South Korea called on Soeharto to get to work on his country's
crisis ridden economy.

"Thailand congratulates President Soeharto on his
reappointment and we look forward to seeing implementation of
appropriate measures to address the economic problems in
Indonesia, now that the political situation has been resolved,"
said foreign ministry spokesman Kobsak Chutikul in Bangkok.

South Korea issued no official statement. A foreign ministry
official said that with the expected reelection of Soeharto,
Seoul hoped Indonesia could resolve its grave economic problems.

The Japanese government also made no immediate statement. A
foreign ministry official only said: "We have received news of
President Soeharto's appointment from our embassy there."

"We appreciate that Indonesia's assembly chose Soeharto as the
leader for next five years."

Neighboring Malaysia has yet to comment over Soeharto's
appointment.

In Cambodia, Phnom Penh offered cautious congratulations to
Soeharto.

"The government and foreign ministry welcome the election of
President Soeharto in a further term, we respect the sovereign
decision of the Indonesian people," said foreign ministry
spokesman Hor Sothoun.

Indonesia is part of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) "troika" which is seeking to mediate a solution
to the current Cambodian crisis, not always with the Cambodian
government's blessing. (amd)