Currency stability is top priority: Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): Restoring currency stability will be the new government's most immediate priority, President Soeharto said last night.

"We're not asking for much. We just want to have a stable rupiah so that people's living standards do not fall further," Soeharto said during a dinner in honor of the 1,000 members of the People's Consultative Assembly.

If this was achieved, the country's economic wheels could start rolling again, he said.

The crisis, he admitted, had made it seem that the fruits of 30 years of development had been destroyed. "This crisis has inflicted big losses on everyone."

The rupiah has plunged by more than 70 percent in the last eight months. Soeharto has indicated on several occasions that he might move to peg the rupiah to a more acceptable level.

Thanking the 1,000 Assembly members for returning him to office for his seventh term on Wednesday, Soeharto promised that he would do his utmost to end the economic crisis.

Soeharto shared a table with new Vice President B.J. Habibie and his wife Ainun, former vice president Try Sutrisno and his wife, and assembly speaker Harmoko and his wife.

There were 237 tables in all at the candle-lit dinner. The drinks served were milk, Coca cola and the Kratingdaeng energy drink.

"We need this to regain our stamina," said Ekky Syahrudin from Golkar as he sipped his energy drink.

The menu was a combination of Padang food, Javanese nasi liwet (a rice dish), baked fish, soup, and satay.

"It's nothing lavish. Times are hard," a presidential household official said.

The prayers were led by Moslem scholar and preacher Quraish Shihab.

"So this is going to be our new minister of religious affairs," some diners commented on Quraish's choice.

To enliven the evening, pop singers Yuni Shara and Dewi Yull entertained the diners. (prb)