Going to bat for Habibie

Going to bat for Habibie

From Merdeka

I was unsettled to read in the Dec. 17 Kompas daily that Mr. Baramuli, who chairs the Supreme Advisory Council, made a speech in the South Sulawesi capital Ujungpandang in which he campaigned for the ruling Golkar to win the next general election.

He warned that if Golkar lost it would mean that Habibie, described as a native of South Sulawesi, would be out of the presidency.

I have the following comments.

1. Is Habibie from South Sulawesi? As far as I know his father came from Gorontalo in North Sulawesi and his mother is a Javanese from Yogyakarta.

2. The general election is still far off, scheduled on June 7. It can be said that Baramuli beat the gun to launch his campaign.

3. In the beginning of his term of office, Habibie said that his children recommended to him not to stay too long in the presidency. Baramuli must remember the more than four-hour-long TV broadcast of Habibie speaking in front of community figures. Habibie also said at that time he would spend his old age in Germany because he has a home there.

4. To mobilize crowds through the power of district heads (camat) and village heads (lurah) is strongly condemned in this reform era, isn't it?

ALEKS

Jakarta