Habibie's speech invites applause

JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie's accountability speech, whether because it was good, bad or extremely controversial, was met with at least 47 rounds of applause and three interruptions by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) members on Thursday.

The 638 Assembly members attending the function clapped their hands when Habibie read his achievements in law enforcement against corruption, collusion and nepotism.

Such a reception invoked laughter from Habibie three times during his three-hour speech.

But a previous consensus of maintaining an uninterrupted session was breached three times by Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) legislators.

The first interruption came from PDI Perjuangan faction chief Sutjipto just before the speech began. He requested security officials to stop shooting at students who were rallying outside the Assembly compound.

About 90 minutes into the speech, another PDI Perjuangan representative, Zulfan Lindan, made Habibie stop his speech. Zulfan drew the Assembly's attention to the shooting spree on student protesters, which was continuing.

Senior politician Sabam Sirait took his turn requesting security officials to stop the shooting.

Assembly Speaker Amien Rais tolerated the interruptions for the sake of reform movement. Nevertheless, after the third break, Amien asked the members not to get carried away and to stop interrupting the speech. (02)