Habibie tries hard to sell achievements

JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie, for the second time in less than three months, defended his term in office by extolling his achievements in saving the economy from near bankruptcy in an attempt to impress the top lawmakers who will soon decide the outcome of his presidential bid.

Habibie told the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) that inflation was fully controlled, the rupiah had strengthened and economic growth could grow 1 percent or at least remain flat this year, compared to a 13.2 percent contraction in 1998.

"All these indicators show that our economy has returned to the path of recovery," he told the Assembly.

Habibie, whose image has been battered by the Bank Bali scandal and his foot-dragging in combating high-level corruption, arrived almost 40 minutes late to deliver his accountability speech as thousands of demonstrators demanding his resignation blocked the main access to the MPR building.

Immediately after MPR Speaker Amien Rais called on the President to deliver his address, Sutjipto of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction interrupted to draw the Assembly's and Habibie's attention to the rough manhandling by security forces of demonstrators in the streets.

Amien then replied that he, accompanied by MPR deputy speakers Matori Abdul Djalil and Kwik Kian Kie, had earlier gone outside to calm the demonstrators and invited 100 of them to attend the MPR session and later talk with the MPR leadership.

Their efforts initially failed as the protesters wanted only one thing -- Habibie's resignation.

Habibie's speech was by and large a rehash of his state of the nation address on the eve of the Aug. 17 Independence Day.

He devoted a great deal of his speech to elaborating on what his administration has done to improve the economy, accelerate the democratization process and carry out reform in other sectors.

Midway through his address, Speaker Amien interrupted to announce that a number of student representatives were entering to attend the session.

Sabam Sirait then interrupted again to draw Habibie's attention to the harsh treatment of demonstrating protesters in the streets around the Assembly building.

"The government has been seriously trying to settle problems that crippled the bank restructuring program and the East Timor situation," Habibie said.

He put the cost of bank restructuring at around Rp 350 trillion (US$43.75 billion), far below the Rp 550 trillion announced by the finance minister recently.

A few minutes later, pandemonium almost erupted after another MPR member interrupted to shout for attention, pointing out that demonstrators were being shot at in the streets.

But Habibie appeared calm and patient, unperturbed by the flurry of interruptions, which were unheard of in the past.

Student protesters continued their demonstrations until Habibie completed his three-hour speech at midnight.

He spoke at great length, defending his policy on East Timor, which in late August voted to reject autonomy within Indonesia and become a separate state.

"I hereby urge Assembly members to ratify East Timor's independence vote," Habibie said, pointing out that in various international forums, Indonesia had always been cornered because of East Timor.

He devoted only about one page of his 53-page speech to the Bank Bali scandal, which has caused further aid disbursement by international creditors to be withheld and has wiped out whatever little trust investors still had in his administration.

He pledged to handle the case transparently and assured the Assembly members that the affair was being handled according to the law.

Corruption

Habibie also defended the decision by the attorney general to stop an investigation into alleged corruption by former president Soeharto, saying that "there isn't enough evidence to prove irregularities that caused losses to the economy or allowed an abuse of power by Soeharto".

He pledged to continue investigations into the businesses of Soeharto's cronies and family members suspected of collusion and nepotism and to deal with them according to laws.

He touched upon unrest and mass violence here and there but he said their impact on national stability could still be controlled.

He expressed deep condolences to the families whose children were killed during protests last year and this year and insisted that those responsible for the incidents would face the due process of law.

"We have tried our best, I fully realize that we cannot resolve the crisis, which was an accumulation of damages and problems over so long a period of time, within 512 days," Habibie pleaded.

MPR members will deliberate Habibie's speech Friday evening, with each of the 11 factions set to give their response to it on Friday evening and Saturday. Habibie is scheduled to respond to their comments on Sunday.

But several factions apparently already made up their minds to reject the accountability speech even before it was delivered.

National Awakening Party secretary-general Khofifah Indar Parawansa said her party was most likely to reject the speech because Habibie had failed to follow the Assembly's orders to crack down on corruption, improve the country's human rights record and properly investigate the charges of corruption, collusion and nepotism leveled at Soeharto.

MPR Deputy Speaker Kwik Kian Gie of the PDI Perjuangan faction said his party would obviously reject the speech due to Habibie's failings on East Timor and the investigation into Soeharto.

However, there is no clear ruling that bars Habibie from his presidential bid should his accountability speech be rejected by the majority of the MPR factions. (vin)