Habibie receives German expo participants
JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie is feeling right at home with his foreign guests here for a three-day visit, days filled with meeting delegates from Germany, where he spent his younger years.
On Saturday morning at Merdeka Palace, the President received parliament members Hans Martin Bury, Gudrun Kupp, Gunnar Uldall and Margareta Wolf, who are from four political parties.
"We asked him what sectors of our infrastructure industry (Germany could provide) would be helpful for Indonesia's economic recovery," Bury said after the meeting.
Habibie also told them that the next government, as a result of a June general election, will likely be similar with the current situation in Germany, where the government is formed by a coalition of parties.
Later in the afternoon, he held an exclusive interview with the dailies Frankfurter Algemeine and Die Neue Zuricher Zeitung.
According to presidential spokeswoman Dewi Fortuna Anwar, Germany's press has put in the most applications for exclusive interviews with the President.
"This is likely because the President has a long relation with Germany," Dewi said recently.
Germany has become like a second home for Habibie's family. Habibie studied and worked in Germany from 1955 to 1974. His two sons, Ilham Akbar and Thariq Kemal were both born in Germany. Habibie returned to Indonesia on the request of then president Soeharto to develop Indonesia's technology.
"He often tells us that when he is no longer president this year, his first priority is to take a vacation to Germany," his aides have said.
On Friday evening, Habibie hosted a formal dinner to honor participants of TECHNOGERMA Jakarta '99, a week-long industry and technology exhibition at the Jakarta Convention Center.
The President's predinner speech was preceded by remarks from Minister of Industry and Trade Rahardi Ramelan. According to the protocol list Germany was represented by the state of Baden- Wurttemberg's prime minister, Erwin Teufel, and Germany's Minister for Economics and Technology Affairs Werner Muller.
During the dinner, guests were entertained by cultural shows from Java, Bali and Aceh, and an angklung orchestra of bamboo instruments. An orchestra from Germany's city of music, Bremen, the Deutsche Kammerphiharmonie Bremen, also entertained Habibie and his guests.
On Sunday, Habibie is scheduled to inaugurate PT German Center Indonesia at Bumi Serpong Damai in Serpong, West Java.
The President will open the TECHNOGERMA Jakarta '99 exhibition on Monday morning, for which aides have given him more time.
Habibie was originally scheduled to open the exhibition at 10 a.m., after which he was due to open, at 11 a.m., a congress to be held by an association of private universities.
"We changed the schedule because as a technologist, he wants to spend more time to enjoy the exhibition," an official said on Saturday.
Germany is one of Indonesia's major trading partners and a major source of investment and foreign aid. In 1997, Indonesian exports to Germany reached DM4 billion, and imports from Germany reached DM5.2 billion. (prb)