Guess What? Harmoko

When Minister of Information Harmoko came for his scheduled hearing with the House of Representatives' Commission I on foreign policy, information and security, it was expected that the issue of the paper crisis would be among the most debated topics.

However, no one really expected the farcical exchange of comments that would occur around this heated topic.

As usual, at a House hearing, copies of the minister's written answer are distributed at the beginning of the session.

In Harmoko's case, the written reply was over 40-pages long.

As the chairperson of the Committee, Aisyah Amini, opened the hearing, she playfully commented how interesting it was to see that the minister's 40-page reply was partly copied on newsprint.

Harmoko, after laughing himself, replied that, despite the crisis, such paper was still cheaper than the regular folio- typing paper.

Apparently Aisyah's comments did not wander far from Harmoko's mind and as he made his closing statement the minister said, "Let me symbolically hand a copy of my answer to the chair. This is the original copy, which I have officially signed, and is not typed on newsprint". (05/mds)