Nation's three presidents share common birth month

JAKARTA (JP): What do Indonesia's three presidents -- Sukarno, Soeharto and B.J. Habibie -- all have in common? They were all born in June.

Indonesia's first president was born on June 6, 1901, his successor Soeharto was born on June 8, 1921 and Habibie was born 62 years ago today.

However Habibie is a Cancer, while his two predecessors fall under the zodiac sign of Gemini.

These are just some of the comparisons people are suddenly making of Habibie since he replaced Soeharto as president on May 21.

While Habibie has been in the public eye since being appointed state minister of research and technology in 1978, his ascendency to power has turned life upside down for him.

But the Habibie family, particularly his wife Hasri Ainun Besari still tries to maintain a climate of normality.

"Pak Habibie just wants to celebrate his birthday strictly with his wife, two sons, daughters in law, and his two grandchildren," a palace official said yesterday when asked what the President would be doing to mark the occasion.

Born in Parepare, South Sulawesi, Habibie has inherited a nation on the brink of economic ruin and seen his name rubbished almost daily in street protests by people dissatisfied with his rule.

Whether intentionally or not, he has nevertheless maintained an aura of amiability which officials say was unheard of in the palace compound over the past few years.

"He acts just like he did when he was a minister. He wants his old friends to come to his home as his family's guests," said a palace official.

Protocol officials have been cringing regularly as the German- educated President continues to frequently break palace taboos -- students meeting the president in T-shirts, three-wheeled bajajs wizzing by him during a market visit.

"Protocol is made to make my duties easier and not to make them more difficult," Habibie insisted.

It has yet to be confimed, however, whether today he will break his Javanese mother's tradition that he follows of fasting on Mondays and Thursdays. On other days he makes his own coffee and cooks instant noodles at the Bina Graha presidential office.

The President's main anxiety seems not about protocol, but his wife, a doctor, who has kept him on a strict diet since he underwent heart surgery a few years ago.

"Sometimes he quietly approaches his adjutants' desks and pretends to look for something. But actually he just wants to take their food, like cassava or peanuts," a palace official recently confided. (prb)