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)