Former general may be appointed as deputy state secretary

JAKARTA (JP): What does a cabinet minister do when he is overburdened after being elected to chair the country's biggest political organization? Appoint a new assistant to conduct his ministerial duties.

Lt. Gen. (ret) Toni Hartono is scheduled to be sworn in as a deputy state secretary next week, a newly created post especially set up to assist Minister/State Secretary Akbar Tandjung who will be increasingly preoccupied with his new role as Golkar chairman.

"Pak Toni will play a key role because Pak Akbar must also share his time with Golkar," a senior palace official said yesterday.

Akbar announced that he would install a retired three-star general as his assistant next week but refused to disclose the name of the candidate.

Toni himself refused to comment.

"I am sorry I cannot give you any details because I have not heard about it," he said when contacted by The Jakarta Post yesterday.

Toni and Akbar know each other well from when Toni worked as the head of the secretariat of Golkar's board of patrons and Akbar served as its secretary.

The board of patrons is due to be abolished following Golkar's extraordinary congress last week, where Akbar was elected as the organization's chairman, replacing House of Representatives Speaker Harmoko.

Akbar said Sunday he had proposed to President B.J. Habibie that he needed a deputy, to enable him to give more time to Golkar affairs. The deputy he said would not hold a ministerial rank. (prb)