Growing pain, not sickness: Siswono

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo believes Indonesian society is suffering from "growing pains" and is not sick as he was purported as saying last week, a fellow cabinet minister said yesterday.

Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono told reporters Siswono had explained his controversial remarks, reported in several Jakarta newspapers, to President Soeharto.

Siswono was quoted as saying Indonesian society is "sick" and that "government officials are sick".

While the remarks gained Siswono admiration from politicians and praise from some newspaper editorials, he has since distanced himself from them, insisting he had been misinterpreted.

Siswono told the President he had been misquoted, Meordiono said.

In the interview, he talked about Indonesia's transformation from a traditional agrarian state to a modern industrial society.

In such a change it was normal for a society to suffer "development or growing pains", Moerdiono said, adding: "That was the exact terminology Siswono used."

The journalists who interviewed him wrongly concluded Indonesian society, and therefore government officials, were now sick, Moerdiono said. President Soeharto had accepted the explanation, he added.

Moerdiono reminded journalists of the need for accuracy, especially when reporting statements by government officials. "It's simple really; just write down what was said, without adding in your own opinion," he said.

Criticism of the cabinet by its own members is frowned upon by President Soeharto.

In November 1995, State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja was told by the President to control his behavior, after suggesting that problems facing fellow cabinet members were in many cases "their own creation".

Sarwono, who like Siswono is a career politician, duly complied. (emb)