Nation's three presidents share common birth month
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)