Habibie's wife calls on mothers to send students back to school

Habibie's wife calls on mothers to send students back to school

JAKARTA (JP): First Lady Hasri Ainun Habibie has appealed to
mothers all over the country to prevail upon their children to
resume their classes, rather than protesting in the streets, and
to prepare for the nation's future.

"We don't have much time. We will soon enter the new era of
the 21st century which will be filled with challenges and
competition in every field," Mrs. Habibie was quoted by Antara as
saying.

Mothers should use their love to prevail over their offspring,
listen to the cries of their hearts, and convince them to return
to their school or college, she said.

Recent events befalling the nation "have been suffocating",
she said during a meeting with the wives of participants of a
regular course on national awareness organized by the Institute
of National Resilience of the Ministry of Defense and Security.

The euphoria over reforms continued almost unabated and was
now bordering on hysteria, making the people restless, she said.

"It seems that something is deeply troubling the youngsters.
We hear so many demands voiced by the young people, particularly
university students," she said.

Yet, the key to facing the increasingly fierce global
competition was the quality of human resources which Indonesia
must prepare as early as possible, she said.

"For this reason, I seriously appeal to all young people,
particularly students, to go back to their duties.

"Their enthusiasm and ideals should be expressed through
thoughts, and not through mobilizing people and counting on
physical force in the streets," she was quoted as saying.

For the past three months, the government of President B.J.
Habibie has had to contend with student protests almost every day
demanding speedier political reforms. On Tuesday, Habibie
criticized the student protesters saying that they could not
pursue reforms from the streets. (emb)