Slimmer, non-smoking Alatas back in action

JAKARTA (JP): After nearly two months out of action, a slimmer Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas returned to work on Saturday, promising that he is giving up smoking.

Alatas suffered a heart attack late in May and had been undergoing treatment, including a quadruple bypass in Melbourne, Australia, and a long rest.

On Saturday, he reported for duty to President Soeharto at the latter's Jakarta residence on Jl. Cendana.

"I've shed five kilograms from the around 70 kilograms previously," Alatas, in cheerful tone, told reporters after the meeting. "And I've had it with smoking. Truly, it was not pleasant to have a heart attack and undergo an operation."

Prior to the heart attack, the minister, known by his staff as a workaholic, was a chain smoker, finishing off two packs a day and combining regular tobacco smokes with kretek (clove) cigarettes.

"I've given it up completely now. I'm even trying to avoid the smoke from other people's cigarettes," he said.

Alatas said the President advised him to phase in to his work gradually, but the minister admitted that he was "itching" to get back into action after the long rest, noting that a lot of things had happened during his absence.

As if to prove his point, he said he will be leading the Indonesian delegation to a series of annual ministerial meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bangkok this coming weekend.

Apart from being slimmer, there were no other visible signs that Alatas had been ill, a sign that the long rest had done him a lot of good. To clarify his reason for spurning cigarettes, the minister opened his shirt to show the 15 centimeter scar left by the surgical incision.

He said that there were three causes for his heart condition. Besides the smoking, there was the stress from work, and then the cholesterol.

To maintain his health, Alatas has now taken up walking every morning and doing a little of jogging, accompanied by his wife. He said he has temporarily stopped playing golf.

The minister said during his absence from work, he tried to follow events related to his work, although while in the hospital, the doctors barred him from watching television or reading newspapers and magazines.

In Australia, the hospital almost completely isolated him to ensure adequate rest, to the point that even a phone call from President Soeharto in Jakarta was rejected, Alatas said.

Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating and Foreign Minister Gareth Evans were also denied access to see him. But after Alatas reminded the hospital's operators that the two were their own leaders, the two top officials were allowed to visit him on separate days. (emb)