Harmoko get presidential thanks for his service

JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Special Assignments Harmoko ended his 14-year service as a cabinet minister yesterday with a "thank you" from President Soeharto.

"He stated his gratitude at all my efforts while I was in the executive branch, and he further expressed his appreciation of what I did when I served as minister of information for three periods and state minister of special assignments for a few months," Harmoko said after meeting with Soeharto.

Harmoko, 58, will be sworn in today as legislator for the 1997/2002 term.

Under law, an individual cannot serve in the legislative and executive branches at the same time.

Harmoko was elected to the House of Representatives during the May election. As chief of the dominant Golkar faction, he is tipped to replace Wahono as speaker of the House.

Harmoko described his long-time experience in the executive branch as "absorbing".

"My position in the executive branch has allowed me to deal with people... and people are always interesting," he said.

"I've always been assured of my duties because what I did was always under the guidance of the President," he remarked.

Born in Nganjuk, East Java, Harmoko began his career as a journalist working at the Merdeka daily in 1960. He quickly rose to become head of the newspaper in 1966.

He has also served as editor-in-chief of Pos Kota and Terbit dailies.

In 1973 Harmoko became head of the Indonesian Journalists Association for 10 years.

He was selected by Soeharto as minister of information in 1983. Harmoko was the second longest-serving minister after State Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie.

During his tenure as minister of information, Harmoko was involved in several controversial decisions, including the banning of several publications such as Sinar Harapan in 1986, Prioritas in 1987, and most recently Tempo, Editor and DeTik in June 1994.

In June Harmoko was replaced by former Army chief R. Hartono as minister of information.

He was given the newly created post of state minister of special assignments and was tasked with overseeing crash courses for incoming legislators.

"If you ask me I think all duties given to me are the same, because all have one objective: to serve the nation," he said after meeting with Soeharto for the last time as a cabinet minister. (prb/mds)