Habibie a good candidate to assist me: Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto gave his formal consent yesterday to the nomination of B.J. Habibie as vice president, saying that the 61-year-old German-educated technology czar was a suitable candidate to assist him.

The newly reelected President reiterated his support for Habibie to each of the five factions visiting Soeharto's residence on Jl. Cendana, Central Jakarta, yesterday.

"Pak Harto said Bapak Habibie is an appropriate assistant for him as the country is striving for industrialization, which requires strong technology support," chairman of Golkar's faction in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), Ginandjar Kartasasmita told journalists after meeting the President.

While all five factions in the Assembly had nominated Habibie as their sole vice presidential candidate, the law requires the consent of the president-elect to accept to work with the vice president.

Soeharto said yesterday Habibie met all the criteria for the post.

Quoting him, Ginandjar said the next vice president should be the President's primary assistant in anticipating global challenges of the 21st century.

Ginandjar who was accompanied by Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, Golkar's secretary-general Ary Mardjono and outgoing cabinet ministers Akbar Tandjung, R. Hartono and Haryanto Dhanutirto, also cited the president as saying he had known Habibie for a very long time.

He said Soeharto recalled how he had in 1974 asked Habibie to return home from Germany to help with the country's development.

Born in a remote village near the South Sulawesi town of Parepare, Habibie won a scholarship from the Ministry of Education and Culture in 1954 to study aircraft construction engineering in Aachen, Germany.

After obtaining a doctorate in 1965, he joined the Hamburger Flugzeugbau (HF) aircraft industry and later the Messerschmitt Boelkow Blohm (MBB) aircraft manufacturer.

Habibie's expertise earned him a prestigious position as one of MBB's vice presidents.

Soeharto asked him to return in 1974 and in 1978 appointed him state minister of research and technology, a post he held till the end of the cabinet term earlier this month.

The Armed Forces faction delegation which preceded the Golkar group's visit also concluded that Soeharto was confident about Habibie's abilities and considered him an excellent partner to help lead the nation out of the economic crisis.

"It will be a big mistake if the nation does not take advantage of one of its best sons, who has an excellent mastery of science and technology," Lt. Gen. Yunus Yosfiah, who led the armed forces delegation, said quoting Soeharto.

"He (Soeharto) also underlined that Habibie had a vision on national and international affairs," Yunus, the chief of the Armed Forces Assembly faction, said after meeting the President.

Yunus, the outgoing Armed Forces chief of sociopolitical affairs, was accompanied by his successor, Lt. Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Commodore Gofar Suwarno, Commodore Sugiarto, Brig. Gen. Paula B. Renyaan and Col. Agustiadi S.P.

The three other factions -- the United Development Party (PPP), the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and the regional representatives -- also echoed the supportive statements.

After meeting Soeharto, the same five delegations went to Habibie's house in South Jakarta to meet with the prospective vice president.

Habibie is scheduled to be elected and sworn in this evening after Soeharto's inauguration. If elected, he will be Indonesia's seventh vice president. (prb/byg/imn)