Habibie's speech 'pure rhetoric'

JAKARTA (JP): Initial reaction to the noneconomic portions of President B.J. Habibie's accountability speech on Thursday night was disapproving as analysts and politicians described it as pure rhetoric to gloss over the failings of the administration's flaws.

Amien Rais, chairman of the National Mandate Party, described the speech as full of red marks, likening it to a school report.

He said credit should be given in areas of freedom of expression, the release of political prisoners and the birth of a multiparty system.

Amien, who is also chairman of the Assembly, however said Habibie did not fully elaborate on the critical issue of corruption.

"However as chairman of the Assembly, I cannot (formally) decide on this matter," he said after the plenary session.

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle chief Megawati Soekarnoputri hinted that she would likely not of approve of it.

"(However) In my opinion the speech should be rejected, the reasons will be presented later by the faction," she said.

Matori Abdul Djalil, chairman of the National Awakening Party, said his party would like reject Habibie's accountability.

"The points that he elucidated to in his speech were very far from reality," he said pointing to the Bank Bali scandal and the halt in investigations into alleged corruption of former president Soeharto.

Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, a senior researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), described the speech as a defensive statement which emphasized more on the beauty of its prose rather than its substance.

He even expressed skepticism at some of the statistical numbers given by Habibie to pronounce his successes.

"There was nothing substantial, and we have to question the validity of the figures he gave," Ikrar told The Jakarta Post.

Many unresolved scandals were not clearly addressed but carefully camouflaged with formal remarks, he added.

However, Ikrar conceded that the speech was well-prepared compared to Habibie's other speeches which occasionally contradicted each other.

Ikrar warned members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to be wary in evaluating the speech, as it was carefully compiled in an acceptable way.

"I wonder whether Assembly members are supplied with supplementary data on the speech. If they are not, then the speech was useless," he said.

Overall, Ikrar described the speech as deficient.

"We know what's really going on outside, we can differentiate between rhetoric and reality."

"In presenting the East Timor issue, Habibie didn't reveal his own perspective, and didn't mention about the letter from Australian Prime Minister John Howard prior to the referendum option.

"He (Habibie) wants his name to be recognized as the most democratic president this country has ever had," Ikrar said.

Another LIPI researcher, Hermawan Sulistyo, said in his comment to the Post that the style and pattern of Habibie's speech was similar to his predecessor, former president Soeharto, in that it listed government successes while neglecting its failures.

"The facts he presented in his speech were misleading. He said inflation dropped drastically, but he didn't mention that many people are starving throughout the country."

Hermawan also decried the fact that Habibie boasted about his achievements on human rights affairs, while never apologizing to the victims of violence and human rights abuses.

"He did not even show any regret to what happened in Aceh and other areas. He did not say how many people were killed during his tenure."

"It is true that he did not arrest people for political activities, but that changed with the shooting of students and other innocent people," Hermawan charged.

Hermawan found it strange that Habibie boasted about delaying the establishment of the Iskandar Muda Military Command in Aceh, while in fact it is public knowledge that the people of Aceh loathe such a military presence.

He also said it was nonsense Habibie boasted about press freedom when it was intense public pressure which prompted the government pursue such openness.

Further aversion came from rights activist Munir of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).

"It was full of empty promises," Munir said.

"In regard to Aceh, what was said in his speech was only his expectation because the situation on the ground is completely different," Munir told the Post.

Munir said thus far none of the perpetrators of alleged human rights abuses in the troubled province have been brought to trial.

"It seems that the government is easily satisfied merely by having set up a fact-finding commission, but what about after that?" Munir said referring to Habibie's comment that an independent commission was established to probe into alleged rights abuses in Aceh.

Aceh has seen a series of outbreaks of violence between the military and separatist rebels seeking an independent Aceh state. More than 250 people have been killed there since May and thousands of refugees continue to seek shelter in mosques, schools and government buildings for fear of further unrest.

In regard to legal reform, Bambang Widjojanto of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation said Habibie's performance was far from the accomplishments he expounded during his speech.

He said Habibie only succeeded in drafting a pile of new laws but failed to "clearly uphold the supremacy of law".

"He knows how to produce, but fails to improve the system," Bambang said. (emf/prb/byg/05)