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