Habibie takes jeers in stride

JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie brushed off the jeering by several members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) on Friday by calling it a sign of democracy at work.

It was a double insult for Habibie as he entered the Assembly hall for Friday's induction ceremony as an overwhelming majority of members for the first time in three decades refused to even stand up for the President.

Habibie maintained his composure as he passed Assembly members with a smile even though boos were heard.

"That is democracy. That's no problem," he said during a luncheon with senior media editors at Merdeka Palace later on Friday afternoon.

However, leading Assembly members strongly criticized their colleagues, calling them uncivilized for jeering the nation's highest executive.

Abdurrahman Wahid, an Assembly member for the Interest Group Faction, said such harassment during a solemn ceremony was astonishing and improper.

"All legislators are free to like or dislike the President, but they should be aware of their new status as statesmen and, thereby, they should respect Habibie in his capacity as President," he told reporters after the ceremony.

Abdul Madjid of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle PDI Perjuangan), who presided over the ceremony, also said it was improper.

"I must say that it isn't proper for members to conduct such an unethical action," said Madjid.

Indria Samego, a political observer from the National Institute of Sciences (LIPI), deplored the President's defamation, saying it was a childish act.

"I am very sorry to see honorable legislators involved in such childish actions. From a political ethics point of view, it shows they aren't suitable to be Assembly members.

"They would also feel insulted if Megawati Soekarnoputri were president and got similar treatment," he said in an apparent insinuation that the jeering was by PDI Perjuangan members.

Adnan Buyung Nasution, a noted lawyer, lamented the legislators' harassment as an uncivilized act.

He said the unbecoming conduct was not only derogatory to the President as head of state, but also to the nation which prides itself for its hospitality and ethics.

"I have been a government critic throughout the land, but I have never done such an uncivilized act," he remarked. (rms)