Quelling speculation

Quelling speculation

The news from Bad Oeynhausen, Germany -- concerning President
Soeharto's condition as conveyed by Minister of Research and
Technology B.J. Habibie and Dr. Reiner Koerfer -- brought relief
to all Indonesians as it turned out President Soeharto was
healthier than many people thought.

The statement made by Koerfer, who heads the medical
examination team at the Bad Oeynhausen heart and diabetes center,
put an end to the political and economic speculation which
surfaced with the news of a medical examination of President
Soeharto, who is 75 years old.

The political rumors began to circulate around the middle of
last week. Foreign journalists went looking into the issues. The
foreign media reports, according to finance minister Mar'ie
Muhammad, caused some fluster in the form of a fall in the
Jakarta Stock Exchange index as well as in the rate of the rupiah
against the U.S. dollar in the Singapore money market.

These phenomena show that the political and economic situation
in Indonesia is still relatively vulnerable to issues and
speculator behavior, even though Minister/State Secretary
Moerdiono tried to make clear that President Soeharto is
perfectly healthy.

If there is anything that needs our attention here it is the
problem of communication. As Dr. Amir Santoso, a political
observer from the University of Indonesia, commented, the failure
to clarify President Soeharto's trip caused an unnecessary
impact. In a number of other countries, the task of communicating
(with the public) is entrusted to a professional spokesperson. It
is time for us to also have a presidential spokesperson to look
after that particular task.

-- Republika, Jakarta