Habibie a perfect match for Soeharto

Habibie a perfect match for Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): The vice presidential election is not until
Wednesday, but most informed citizens believe B.J. Habibie will
get the nod after all five factions in the People's Consultative
Assembly picked him as their sole candidate.

Any question whether President Soeharto -- whose reelection is
also almost a certainty -- would approve of Habibie as his vice
president is obviously rhetorical as the two have long been known
to be very close.

Habibie often stays for hours when he reports to Soeharto
either at the Bina Graha presidential office or the latter's
residence on Jl. Cendana. Some people believe the closeness of
their relationship resembles the ties that bound Sukarno and
Mohammad Hatta, the country's first president and vice president,
who were dubbed dwitunggal (two but one).

Habibie signaled his willingness to be nominated beginning in
September of last year. Amid controversy over whether civilians
were on par with the military in their ability to lead the
country in the future, Habibie insisted civilians deserved top
leadership posts because they made up the majority of Indonesia's
population.

Perfect graduate

Born in the remote village of Nepo, Parepare, South Sulawesi,
on June 25, 1936, Habibie -- or Rudy as he known by intimates --
was brought up in a strictly religious Moslem family.

The third of four children began reading the Koran when he was
a child. His lifelong religious devotion continues in adulthood.
Despite his hectic schedule as a minister, he continued to fast
every Monday and Thursday, a highly recommended practice in Islam
but not compulsory. He went on the haj pilgrimage in 1983.

His father, Alwi Abdul Jalil Habibie from the South Sulawesi
town of Gorontalo, died when Habibie was 13 years old.

His Javanese mother, R.A. Tuti Marini, brought her children to
Bandung, West Java.

After attending the Bandung Institute of Technology for about
a year in 1954, Habibie won a scholarship from the Ministry of
Education and Culture to study aircraft construction engineering
in Aachen, West Germany, a course he completed in 1960.

Five years later, at his own expense, he obtained a
engineering doctorate from the Reinisch-Westfaelische Technische,
Aachen. He passed with honors and a perfect grade point average.

He was the only non-German in the post World War II era to
write about aeronautics for his final thesis. He was also the
fourth to obtain the degree from a German university on work
about structural strength.

Habibie Factor

As a research assistant at Aachen's Technische Hocheschule
(1960-1965), Habibie created a design of a deep sea submarine and
a high pressured and temperature room for Julich Atomic Center.

With the Hamburger Flugzeugbau (HF) aircraft industry, he
designed the world's first aircraft with one consolidated wing,
which remains the only aircraft in the world capable of a
vertical landing and takeoff.

He designed more aircraft, including those for satellite and
nuclear projects, when he was an expert staff, then vice
president, of the Messerschmidt Boelkow Blohm (MBB), another
aircraft industry which subsequently merged with HF.

He is often nicknamed "Mr. Crack" for his outstanding ability
to calculate the random crack propagation down to its very atom.

Many structural engineers were fearful of the cracks, as it
was difficult to predict the crack propagation behavior. In the
world of aircraft construction, his inventions are often referred
to as the "Habibie Factor", "Habibie Theory" or Habibie Function.

In 1974, President Soeharto called Habibie home and assigned
him to be his technological consultant. He has been State
Minister of Research and Technology since 1978.

Among the more than 20 strategic and influential institutions
he currently chairs or recently led are the Agency for the
Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), the Agency for
Strategic Industries, Nusantara Aircraft Industries (IPTN) and
the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals.

Character

His close ties with Soeharto began when he was a teenager.
Soeharto, then commander of Mataram Brigade, was assigned to
control a rebellion in South Sulawesi and stayed in the
neighboring military camp.

Close friends succinctly describe Habibie's character as
rational as a German, as economical as a Jew or Chinese and as
humble as a Javanese.

Political observers Marzuki Darusman and Riswandha Imawan of
Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University concurred with the
assessment.

Riswandha said it was Habibie's rationality which, among other
things, led some to hope he would play a significant role in
creating a peaceful regeneration.

"This characteristic allows him to select people based on
merit," he said.

Habibie's strengths, according to Riswandha, include his
popularity among the majority Moslem community, the esteem he
holds among youth and his long service as Soeharto's minister.

"Serving Soeharto for dozens of years has made him understand
exactly what Soeharto wants. He has the capability of translating
Soeharto's conceptual visions into something workable."

With these qualities, Riswandha added, Habibie would be able
to bridge the communication gap between generations.

"He has proven it," Riswandha said, pointing out how Habibie
successfully reestablished contact between Soeharto and Gen.
(ret) A.H. Nasution, one of the country's most senior military
figures who became a government critic.

Dissidents

Habibie was also responsible for mending -- no matter how
fleetingly -- the splintered relationship between the government
and members of a group of government critics, who called
themselves Petisi 50, by inviting them on a tour of the IPTN
facility.

He has also created honorable positions in BPPT for several
figures regarded as dissidents by the government but who
displayed potential.

"His proximity to minority groups has certainly to be
considered as a betterment (should he become the vice
president)," said Marzuki, who is also deputy chairman of the
National Commission on Human Rights.

Although Habibie has been labeled a "big spender" because of
his costly visionary technological projects, Marzuki said this
was unjustified.

The label came about because of Habibie's positions as the CEO
or president of high-tech industries, which are national projects
and carried out based on national decisions, Marzuki said. It
does not, in other words, have any link to his personality.

Marzuki advised that Habibie, in his desire to succeed as a
national leader, should be concerned about some individuals close
to him who he said created an image of exclusivity.

"These people have made things complicated and caused people
to feel uncomfortable approaching Habibie," Marzuki said, without
mentioning any names.

Riswandha gave a different recommendation.

He said Habibie needed a supporting team comprising people
with strong knowledge about Indonesian politics should he become
the vice president. This team would be needed to cope with the
"natural" character traits of a scientist -- Riswandha said those
involved in the discipline tended to be individualistic.

Another political analyst, Arbi Sanit, said: "He also needs to
be more open to changes should he want to be successful (as a
vice president)." (swa)