Powerful group of friends

Powerful group of friends

Maybe because they are unsure about the steps that have been taken (to investigate ex-president Gen. Soeharto's wealth), people tend to accuse the attorney general -- who is close to Habibie -- of being reluctant to investigate the former president because, after all, he too is a military man.

As for President B.J. Habibie, who gives the impression of trying to avert investigating the case, there is no need for doubt. The public feels certain that Habibie won't have the heart to incriminate his former political professor because he was raised by Soeharto. As Mr. Crack -- one of Habibie's nicknames -- so often admitted before the reform movement started rolling, he learned much about politics from Soeharto.

Incidentally, could it be that Habibie is about to use this very fact as his trump card to run for the presidency?

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta