Habibie's account to MPR may skirt sensitive issues

JAKARTA (JP): Three of President B.J. Habibie's most sensitive problems -- the alleged corruption by Soeharto, the Bank Bali scandal and the East Timor issue -- looks set to be sidelined in his upcoming accountability speech to the nation's highest institution.

A six-hour Cabinet meeting at the Bina Graha presidential office took place on Wednesday to discuss the President's accountability speech.

If accounts from participants at that meeting are anything to go by, Habibie will most likely focus on his economic "successes" in his next Thursday address to the People's Consultative Assembly.

After the meeting, Minister of Information Muhammad Yunus and Minister of Finance Bambang Subianto sang the government's praises in taming hyperinflation and combating corruption, collusion and nepotism (locally known as KKN).

"The Cabinet's working period was short, and it inherited various severe diseases; practices of KKN were so rampant. All of these problems have been gradually eradicated and neutralized," Yunus said.

He drew attention to the government's success in stabilizing and strengthening the rupiah, which fell dramatically against the U.S. dollar to a point where at one stage, it reached Rp 15,000 against the greenback.

Bambang was keen to recall how Indonesia's net foreign exchange reserves in September reached US$16 billion, or $2 billion higher than required by the International Monetary Fund.

"Inflation from January to September this year was only 0.02 percent, while for the same period last year it reached 75.4 percent. It is a tremendous achievement," Bambang said.

A senior official who also attended the meeting said Habibie appeared optimistic that the Assembly would accept his accountability speech, particularly considering the administration's impressive economic achievements and democracy measures.

"Pak Habibie is very confident on the acceptance," said the official, who requested anonymity.

The President's address to the Assembly will be the first hurdle Habibie faces if he hopes to retain the top job. A rejection would spell the end of any comeback for the former vice president.

Yunus acknowledged that the Cabinet meeting only gave cursory attention to the alleged corruption by Soeharto, the Bank Bali affair and East Timor.

"They were not discussed in detail because the meeting was only a review on all the progress achieved. But basically the issues will be included in the President's speech," Yunus said.

Bambang, whose name was linked with the Bank Bali scandal, looked uncomfortable after a journalist brought up the scandal, but Yunus continued to defend the government's achievements.

Speaking of the widely held negative perceptions of the administration, Yunus quoted Habibie as saying that it was "as if the government never did good things".

Yunus said the President's accountability speech would not only address the tasks mandated to him by the Assembly, but would also include his performance as vice president from March 11 to May 21 last year, the date he replaced Soeharto. (prb)