How fares Soeharto?

How fares Soeharto?

As the Dutch say, hoge bomen vangen veel wind (tall trees
catch much wind). During the 32 years that Soeharto was president
of Indonesia, even the slightest sign of illness was enough to
set off rumors of a power struggle within the political elite and
rattle the market.

Those years are over, of course. But even after his fall from
power in May last year, it cannot be denied that Indonesia's
former second president continues to exert a considerable
influence, at least in certain segments of our community. How
else to explain the persistent speculation circulating at present
that the former strongman is still pulling strings behind the
scene to ensure the new government that will emerge after the
November presidential elections will be favorably inclined toward
protecting him and his clan's interests?

For that reason there is no cause to feel either shocked,
surprised or resentful -- depending on the kind of emotional
relationship one has with the ex-president -- about the seemingly
nosy attitude the media has been displaying around the Pertamina
Hospital sickroom and facilities where Soeharto is being treated
after a mild stroke he is said to have suffered last Tuesday.

Soeharto is the former chief executive of Southeast Asia's
biggest country and the fourth most populous in the world. He is
the man who, during his long tenure, managed, among other things,
to raise the standard of life for millions of Indonesians, even
if much of that economic progress later turned out to be hollow
in many important sectors due to rampant power abuse and
mismanagement.

Soeharto, at the same time, is the man who, through his iron-
fisted rule, fashioned the executive branch of government into a
power apparatus so overbearing, it turned the legislative and
judiciary branches, together with the military, into mere
subordinate extensions of the state's executive powers. Soeharto
is the man who effectively dealt a death blow to democracy after
his predecessor, Sukarno, stunted its functioning by his
introduction of "guided democracy". Soeharto, in other words, was
the main architect of much of what was both good and bad in this
country's most recent past.

At this moment, even in his present impaired condition -- or
perhaps because of it -- Soeharto continues to draw the attention
of millions of Indonesians. For one thing, the legal process of
going after his and his family's alleged personal wealth with
which his successor, B.J. Habibie, is burdened by legislative
order, has barely started and is now dangling in uncertainty. For
another, many Indonesians are watching with interest what
Soeharto's illness and possible permanent disability could have
on the process of electing a new president for the country in
November.

Given the huge impact Soeharto's legacy still has on the lives
of so many Indonesians, it would be needless to say the public
has a right to be accurately informed of the former president's
condition. Under these circumstances, Indonesians think with envy
of how most modern democratic countries release reliable
information to the public in times such as these.

Surely, especially considering the precarious times in which
Indonesians are living at present, it is better -- if worse comes
to worse -- to have our medical authorities handle the task of
informing the public in the same way American doctors did during
President Reagan's illness or President Eisenhower's demise,
rather than to shroud Soeharto in the same kind of secrecy
Russian doctors did with Stalin at the time of the Soviet
leader's death.

One more suggestion to conclude this commentary: It would help
if somebody in the family could tell Soeharto's legal advisors to
stop issuing medical statements and leave this particular task to
the medical authorities in charge. Too much confusion has already
been caused by one and all giving out contrary statements about
the ex-president's condition.