If I'm no longer trusted, no problem: Soeharto

CAIRO (JP): President Soeharto says it would not be a "problem" if people no longer trusted him to lead the country, and that he would not use armed forces to hold on to his position.

Speaking in a gathering of some 300 members of the Indonesian community here yesterday, Soeharto said "if I am no longer trusted, that's okay...I will not use the force of arms, right?"

"If I am no longer trusted (to lead the country), I will become pandito (a sage) and endeavor to get closer to God. I will (spend) my time to guide my children so they become good people, (guide) the community, and give advice. I will do tut wuri handayani (guide from behind)," he said.

"So, there's no problem at all if I'm no longer trusted," he said at the one-hour gathering held at the end of his visit to the Egyptian capital to attend the G-15 summit. He is reportedly flying home tomorrow.

He was accompanied yesterday by Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas and Minister/State Secretary Saadilah Mursjid.

The President also accused the foreign media of slander in their report that he was the world's fourth wealthiest person after Queen Elizabeth, King Fahd and Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei.

"That's slander," he said. "There are accusations (against me) that the national development has been monopolized by the family of Soeharto... of the Cendana family. They (the accusations) are completely untrue."

Earlier yesterday, Soeharto sent a personal message of condolence from Cairo yesterday over the death of four Trisakti University students during a protest in Jakarta Tuesday.

"On behalf of the government and in my personal capacity, I express my deepest condolences over the incident that left a number of students dead and injured," Soeharto said in a message relayed by the office of Vice President B.J. Habibie.

"I'd like to express my sincere sympathy to the relatives of the students and to the academic community," said Soeharto, who has been in Cairo since Sunday.

He appealed to the nation, especially the country's youth, to exercise restraint and preserve stability, which he said was crucial to the road to reform needed to lift Indonesia out of its crisis.

Similar messages of condolences were also sent yesterday by Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto, Jakarta Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata and chief of the Jakarta Military Command Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin.

Wiranto and Sjafrie vowed that the Armed Forces (ABRI) would conduct an investigation into why the shooting took place, while Hamami, who apologized for the shooting, also maintained that his men never used live ammunition when dealing with rioters or protesters.

"We use blanks and rubber bullets. That's all. We conducted a special briefing on that in Cilangkap (ABRI Headquarters) Monday night," Hamami said.

However, he admitted that "rubber bullets could be fatal if used at a specific range, for instance 25 to 50 meters."

Asked whether the students were shot at close range, he said: "Probably".

Procedures dictate that police must first fire warning shots with blanks, but witnesses said there were none preceding Tuesday's shootings. The students also insisted there were no clashes to provoke the soldiers to fire at the students, regardless of whether they used rubber bullets or live ammunition.

Hamami also said officials were waiting for a postmortem report.

Abdul Mun'im Idris, a forensic expert at the University of Indonesia, has examined the bodies of the students who were shot respectively in the neck, head, and lower abdomen.

Sjafrie confirmed ABRI had set up a special team to investigate the shooting to be chaired by chief of the Jakarta military police Col. Hendardji.

No details have yet been provided as to how the team would go about the investigation or when it would start.

Wiranto said earlier in the day that the National Commission on Human Rights was welcome to join the investigation. Commission member Asmara Nababan said he appreciated the offer but suggested that his organization hold its own investigation and that all institutions involved in the investigation could share information.

Wiranto also guaranteed an honest probe into the incident, saying that soldiers found to have violated laws and procedures would face legal action.

"However, we'd like to implement the same treatment if (we found) the students were also (in the) wrong," he added.

Speaking to reporters after installing Lt. Gen. Agum Gumelar as the new governor of the military think tank, the National Resilience Institute, Wiranto said the bloodshed would not have taken place had the students remained on their campus when staging their protest.

He said there could be even more casualties if the students insist on holding future demonstrations outside of their campuses.

"There will be more victims, more who die needlessly," he said.

The ABRI chief said he would order his troops to leave the campuses alone if he received an assurance from either the students or campus authorities that the students would not take their protests to the streets. (team)