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)