Habibie's careless assumption

This time I would like to share with you my feeling of satisfaction that I made no slip of the pen in a number of letters in which I said it was improper for Akbar Tandjung to be general chairman of Golkar Party and at the same time keep his post as state secretary. This situation could not be allowed in order to prevent abuse of power and funds.

What was essentially an ethical matter, has now become a political issue with Akbar Tandjung himself forced to give up his ministerial post after pressure from the General Elections Commission (KPU). The commission believed Tandjung must be barred from campaigning for his party in this double capacity.

Another topic I would like to raise is the apparent slip of the presidential tongue in the case of Pak Habibie, who was reported to have warned the nation of the latent dangers of communism, marhaenism and socialism to the unity of the country. Understandably, there have been strong protests against such a seemingly careless statement made in public by such a high authority. One political party chief said Habibie should think first before expressing his views. A harsh judgment indeed.

Chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama Abdurrahman Wahid regretted the failure on Habibie's part to differentiate between the three sociopolitical movements. I for one think that everybody should be free to believe in and follow any religion and political ideology, including the communist ideology. Only if that ideology transforms itself into a movement against the state should the alarm bell be sounded. Believing in a political ideology has now become the birth right of every citizen.

What the head of state overlooked is that marhaenism, also called Indonesian socialism, is not violent in approach or philosophy, unlike the communist movement, which as a rule seeks to overthrow the existing regime. The idea of the end justifying the means is not inherent to marhaenism or socialism. Indonesian socialism advocates a greater role by the state through international cooperation among intellectuals. Followers of marhaenism are mostly landless farmers.

Surely, these are not political nuances that the head of state did not know. It must have been a "slip of the presidential tongue" due to pressure and an immense workload perhaps.

The statement was, as we all know, later retracted and a new version was launched and the original amended. However, the damage it caused in certain circles is indelible. The whole episode took a bizarre twist when Probosutedjo, chairman of the Marhaen group, announced he would sue Habibie for insulting his party. Probosutedjo is the half-brother of former president Soeharto, who is known to be the former mentor of Habibie.

Austrian composer Mozart, were he still alive, might be delighted to learn of this tale and would compose the first act of an opera. The second act would open with the National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman arriving on the scene with 300 of his lawyers. Its theme song would appropriately be called Catch me if you can!

GANDHI SUKARDI

Jakarta