Soeharto healthy: Family

Soeharto healthy: Family

JAKARTA (JP): After Doctors' and officials' assurances,
President Soeharto's excellent health was confirmed yesterday by
his half-brother Probosutedjo.

"He's really, really healthy," Probosutedjo told journalists
here after visiting the President at the cardiac hospital in the
German town of Bad Oeynhausen, some 70 km west of Hanover.

According to Probosutedjo, the President said he had listened
to his heart during an electrocardiography examination and it
sounded just like "listening to music."

Probosutedjo said the tests' results showed no serious
ailments. He claimed that the doctors were amazed by how healthy
the President was.

"The test results showed...that everything was all right. In
fact, there were no arterial clogs at all," he said. "The doctors
were surprised that someone at the age of 75 could be in such
good health, so prime."

Soeharto is scheduled to leave Germany later this evening and
arrive at Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusuma airport tomorrow morning.

Probosutedjo described the renowned heart clinic, which was
set in a secluded location. He said there was no special
treatment given to the President, and that even the hotel rooms
were small, though clean and adequate.

He then explained that Soeharto's children and close relatives
had been urging him to undergo a check up abroad.

He said they had been "traumatized" by the untimely death of
Soeharto's wife Siti Hartinah Soeharto on Sunday, April 28.

On the Thursday before her death, Probosutedjo recounted, the
First Lady had been declared healthy by doctors. Assured, the
President had spent the next day fishing.

"Had she been diagnosed as unhealthy then, Pak Harto would not
have gone fishing on Friday," he said.

The First Lady's illness had been detected earlier. But
"inaccurate" tests showed she was healthy and the doctors
relaxed, he said.

"It was quite traumatic. It's not that we don't trust the
doctors here, it's just that we ask ourselves how could it have
happened," he said

Probo revealed that after the First Lady's death, he had
specifically requested that an ambulance always standby ready at
the presidential residence. "I didn't want to see a repeat of
what happened to Ibu (the First Lady)...there was no ambulance
available to rush her to the hospital then," he said.

Meanwhile, share prices on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX)
increased by 0.2 percent yesterday, supported by selective
foreign buying of blue chip shares, dealers said.

"The situation has changed little since yesterday. There was
some very limited foreign buying of some blue chip shares in the
morning, which pushed the composite index up by three points," a
dealer with a Hong Kong-based securities company said.

"But local profit takings on second liners then pushed the
index back down to close only 1.73 points higher at 579.69," he
said.

Several dealers shared the assumption that concerns on
President Soeharto's health had almost completely faded.

"But I am afraid that some people may accept the good news on
President Soeharto's health with reservation," a senior analyst
with a foreign securities company told The Jakarta Post.

Total transactions on the JSX yesterday reached 120 million
shares valued at Rp 257 billion, with advancing stocks
outnumbering decliners 63 to 36.

Among the stocks making gains yesterday was the tire maker,
Gajah Tunggal, which rose one point to Rp 1,150 with six million
shares being traded.

Gajah Tunggal said in a statement yesterday that it had just
signed agreements with 41 international banks on syndicated loans
worth US$360 million.

The loans would be used to refinance the company's debts which
were required to finance its radially expanded tire marketing
program and strengthen its working capital.

Other stocks that rose yesterday included Bimantara Citra
which gained Rp 100 to close at Rp 2,750, Telkom was up Rp 25 to
Rp 3,500 and Indosat was up Rp 50 to Rp 7,500.

A foreign exchange dealer at Bank Bali said that the rupiah
was relatively stable against the U.S. dollar and the market was
calmer yesterday.

But he warned that the rupiah remained sensitive to rumors
regarding the first family.

On Jakarta's spot market, the dollar increased slightly to Rp
2,332.00/Rp 2,332.50 yesterday from Rp 2,331.50/2,332.00 on
Wednesday. In Singapore yesterday the U.S. dollar was quoted at
Rp 2,332, up from Rp 2,330 on Wednesday.

Bank Indonesia yesterday raised its intervention rate by one
point to Rp 2,324/Rp 2,442 and its conversion rate by one point
to 2,324.00/2,370.00. (mds/alo/rid)