Soeharto lashes out at critics

Soeharto lashes out at critics

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto lashed out at his critics
yesterday, saying they continually paint a bleak picture of
Indonesia despite the praise the government has won abroad.

"Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) countries and other developing
nations have a very positive image of Indonesia," Soeharto told
reporters on board a special Garuda Indonesia plane flying him
home after an 18-day overseas tour.

"Everyone in this country should consider this as a
compliment. But there are some groups in this country who insist
that the nation is on the brink of disaster," he said.

The President was returning from a visit to Colombia, the
United States, Suriname, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates (UAE).

Soeharto attended NAM's 11th summit in Colombia, participated
in the special 50th anniversary commemorative meeting of the
United Nations in New York, held a bilateral meeting with U.S.
President Bill Clinton in Washington, made a working visit to
Suriname, went on an umrah minor pilgrimage in Mecca and held a
bilateral meeting with UAE President Zayed Sultan al-Nahyan in
Abu Dhabi.

Soeharto, who was accompanied by First Lady Tien Soeharto and
a number of cabinet ministers, held bilateral meetings with more
than 20 heads of state/government while he was in Cartagena,
Colombia, and in New York.

Soeharto said NAM leaders have appreciated Indonesia's efforts
to redirect the focus of the organization towards poverty
alleviation, the promotion of cooperation among developing
countries, dialog between industrial and developing nations and
reduction of the debt burdens of the poorest developing
countries.

The redirection of NAM was formulated at its 10th summit in
Indonesia in 1992 and the NAM leaders summit in Cartagena, just
concluded, vowed to continue in the same direction.

Happy

"We are happy because Indonesia's leadership has been
recognized as having redirected the movement towards policies
which are more suitable to the post-Cold War conditions --
economic cooperation among developing countries and between
developing and industrial nations based on partnership and mutual
benefits," Soeharto said.

Although Indonesia no longer chairs NAM, the organization's
members have asked that Jakarta continue to assist in finding
ways to ease the debt burden of the poorest countries, he said.

"Indonesia will assign former ministers to help least-
developed countries in their negotiations with donor countries
and organizations to look for the reduction of their debt
burdens," he said.

Soeharto said other countries, such as the UAE, have
appreciated Indonesia's ability to produce high-quality products.

The appreciation was conveyed by UAE President Zayed during a
30-minute meeting with Soeharto at the VIP terminal of the Abu
Dhabi international airport on Tuesday night.

Present at the meeting were the emirates' chief of the armed
forces, Muhammad Zayed al-Nahyan, Minister of Domestic Affairs
Said al-Badri, Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas,
State Minister for Research and Technology B.J. Habibie and State
Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono.

Soeharto said the UAE has bought a number of Indonesian-made
CN-235 aircraft and plans to buy more for its maritime patrol
service.

"This is pleasing because other countries have appreciated
Indonesian products," Soeharto said. "However, there are some
parties in Indonesia who cannot appreciate and are not satisfied
with domestic products, merely because they are narrow-minded,"
he added.

"We do not say that such parties are 'a-nationalist'. We feel
their lack of appreciation is simply a result of their
ignorance," the head of state added.

The chief executive of Indonesia's Merpati Nusantara Airlines,
Ridwan Fataruddin, recently refused to lease CN-235 planes,
saying they were too costly to operate in comparison with the
alternatives. Merpati is a subsidiary of the state carrier Garuda
Indonesia.

Senior officials of the Ministry of Transportation have since
announced that Ridwan and a number of other directors are to be
relieved of their positions on the Merpati board.

President Soeharto also referred to his meeting with Israeli
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in New York, saying he discussed
only affairs related to the latest developments in the Middle
East.

"We did not discuss bilateral affairs, such as the opening of
diplomatic ties," he said. (riz)