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)