If I were Tutut Soeharto

If I were Tutut Soeharto

Kornelius Purba, Staff Writer, The Jakarta Post
Jakarta, korpur@yahoo.com

Read my lips! That will be the theme of my presidential
campaign next year. I made up my mind about the theme when I
walked to my father's house in Menteng, Central Jakarta.

My father Soeharto smiled broadly when we met for breakfast on
Thursday morning. Showing me the headlines of several newspapers
on my plan to run for the presidency next July, he then kissed my
forehead and said, "Restore the honor of our nation, which has
been ruined by the stupid reformists."

He then said he saw me appearing on private television. "My
little girl (actually, I'm a grandma), how proud your mom would
be if she was alive," he whispered with tears in his eyes.

"Long Live Soeharto!" and "Tutut for President!" the
supporters of our newly-established PPKB (Concern for the
National Functional Group) shouted when my friend Gen. R. Hartono
announced the party's plan to nominate me as its presidential
candidate.

"Go to hell Soeharto!" the students chanted five years ago, a
few days before my father's fall on May 21, 1998. Thank God!
After five years, now many people remember the good things about
my father's government: We provided affordable foodstuffs.

I can understand how the non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), or those who boasted to be champions of democracy, are
very upset with my political plan. They could say that my
emergence endangers democracy or the establishment of civil
society. But the reformists should blame themselves, because
millions of ordinary people need cheap rice now rather than tons
of gold in the next century.

Who can deny now that my father deserves the title Father of
Development? Ask people in the street whether the security and
economy under President Megawati Soekarnoputri now is better than
under my father's. I swear they will answer: Everything was much
better under my father's leadership.

How about corruption, human rights abuses and democracy? Five
years ago, people described my father and his children as "mega
corruptors". People are free to say anything about my family. But
just a small reminder: How about the rumors that Megawati's son
is involved in the selling of state land in Kemayoran?

Don't you believe that I could rule the country better than
Megawati? In terms of education, both of us were university drop
outs. I used to manage so many companies -- the economists can
say anything about these companies -- and don't forget, if I did
not build the Jakarta toll road what would have happened to
Jakartans? Before becoming president, Megawati's experience was
basically handling gas stations.

We share the same birthday and place of birth. Megawati was
born in Yogyakarta on Jan. 23, 1947. I was born on Jan. 23, 1949
in Yogyakarta. Her father is called the founding father while
mine is the father of development.

I don't want to dispute allegations of corruption regarding my
family. During my father's tenure, officials marked up costs to
build bridges, but the bridge now stands. And now? Projects like
bridges remain on paper, and the prices are still marked up.
Foreign investors, from Japan, the U.S. and Europe invited my
family to join their business. For businessmen corruption was
actually not a serious issue as long as they could still profit.

Honestly speaking I am rich, but because I worked hard for it.
My siblings and myself are ready to proffer our riches to develop
the nation. The amount is very significant. But remember, we give
the money as proof of our love to the nation. It has nothing to
do with the corruption allegations.

Even my brother Tommy, I am sure, is ready to do his best to
serve the nation, of course after his release from the prison. My
youngest brother has good instinct. After being sentenced for 15
years in a murder case, he refused to appeal to higher courts. He
intends to directly send his appeal to the President. If I was
elected president next year, what I should do with him?

Now, I have decided to run for the presidency. First of all my
father will be my most trusted advisor. Millions of people miss
him. I will ask him to campaign for the party. Perhaps the
doctors, who claimed in public that it was very unlikely that he
could speak fluently again, would faint when they hear him
exclaim, "Long live me!"

When I am elected as the country's sixth president, my first
program will be to buy cheap rice for the people and provide
jobs. I do not need to go in to detail, but I would follow my
father's steps in eradicating crime and in handling
antigovernment activists. We need democracy, but ordinary people
need far more.

I would not allow other foreign leaders to dictate me, not
even Australian Prime Minister John Howard. How about U.S.
President Bush? My father believes Bush would praise me as a
champion of democracy if I quickly offered him business
opportunities for oil or gas companies from Texas.