Donna has done it again!

I propose the next president hires Donna K. Woodward instead of Dewi Fortuna Anwar as an intimate advisor on awkward questions. Indeed, Donna has done it again!

Donna's analysis in Splitting the child is simply brilliant, eclipsing her less fortunate contribution to Your Letters column, just one page before, under the title of The teflon general on the same day in The Jakarta Post edition of Sept. 24. I know of few foreigners, and fellow Indonesians, with such a solid grasp of Indonesian politics and elitist intrigue, who possess real concern for this country's woes as this American ex-diplomat does.

Her analysis of the leading presidential contenders is nearly flawless. As an ex-lecturer, I'd give her a score of 9.5/10. She seems to have arrived at her conclusions based on a rational examination of facts available to anyone who is following the political evolution from the written and electronic media.

There is, however, another and equally valid way to discern true from false, and that is through nonverbal communication (NVC). In combination with rational thinking, it might unveil surprising or hidden aspects of people.

Habibie is clearly a spent force. There is no way he can redress his presidential chances, no more than a member of a relay team who has lost his or her stick in a 4 x 100-meter or 4 x 400-meter Olympics final can still hope to get a medal. In a way, this is a pity. I believe history will judge Habibie as a rather good transitional President, something he obviously and unfortunately didn't want to be. He freed the media which makes articles such as this or Donna's letter possible.

He freed many political prisoners, but wasn't rational enough in doing so (see Budiman Sudjatmiko of the Democratic People's Party -- PRD). He initiated fresh and rather fair elections, though this didn't erase all the electioneering (see the suspect results of Golkar in East Timor).

He freed Indonesia of the East Timor millstone around her international neck, but did so in a rather impulsive and politically naive way, in which the results of this lack of "socialization" we are experiencing now.

He freed Xanana Gusmao, and maybe one day he will have to accept the latter's gratitude for sheltering him in Dili or Baucau if an international war crimes court is on his and others' heels like an Indonesian Pinochet.

In regard to personal attacks in the media, he isn't at all revengeful or he simply does not have the time to pay attention to them. This is in contrast to his mentor Soeharto who would have jailed, or done worse, to anybody who publicly said that he had a bald crown or a big belly -- among poor Indonesians, there is still proof of illegal levies.

Habibie is the best transitional President Indonesia could possibly have had. But history will tell us whether this is indeed so.

An interesting aspect of Indonesian public relations politics is that official statements are seldom read from a well-prepared and thought-out paper, unlike the spokespersons from the UN, the U.S., or even the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank do.

Hubert Neiss and Stanley Fisher, after so many years in this country, prefer to do the same in interviews with Inke Maris, and even do so rather effectively. In Indonesia, speaking off the cuff is indeed still one of those cherished Asian values.

It looks easier, spontaneous, less time-consuming, and more direct as the speaker is surrounded by hordes of microphones and tape recorders from TV stations, newspapers, foreign and local journalists who are watching every move and change of intonation. But it may catch you unaware.

Habibie doesn't have the talent of lying to people's faces. From a NVC point of view, Habibie can't lie at all. At the beginning of his office, his NVC revealed exuberance, pride, promise, good intentions, but also an overestimation of self in not taking matters too seriously.

I pity the guy. If I had a country of my own, I would allow him to take refuge there when it is all over, honestly. We would talk about science and Islam and play chess.

IDIRS KIRWAY

Jakarta