Soeharto may have found his `match'

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto, Indonesia's long-time leader who has ruled almost unopposed, may have finally found his match.

During a rare dialog with the 73-year old President on Saturday, several children, all top of their class, said they wanted his job -- not immediately, but some day for sure.

The occasion was National Children's Day and breaking with tradition the President this year decided to invite some 400 children of poor families from all corners of the archipelago to the presidential palace for a visit.

The children, all 12-year olds in either fifth or sixth grade, are mostly first ranked students and also, as it turns out, very ambitious.

The dialog was held at the palace's garden, and Soeharto used the opportunity to ask them what they want to be when they grow up.

At least three children, including a girl from Central Java, said they want to become president of Indonesia.

"Your ambitions are all very good, but there can only be one president in a country, so it has to be competed for by the 190 million people of Indonesia," Soeharto responded.

Asking what else they would like to be, aside from being president, a child from South Kalimantan said, "a doctor".

"And if you can't become a doctor?" Soeharto asked.

"An engineer," the child said.

"An engineer... to build the country. That's good. Set your goals as high as you can, don't stop at only becoming a driver... and if you have to struggle to achieve your goals, don't be lazy. If you want to become President, you have to be willing to study hard and diligently. Can you do this?" Soeharto said.

"Yes," answered the sixth grader who said he had been top of the class since he entered school.

At one stage, the President was taken aback by one of the questioners, an indication that such a dialog spontaneous and not fixed as some people have suggested.

"I want to know why there is only one president in Indonesia," asked Hamli from Central Sulawesi.

"Why do you ask? Who told you to ask this? Or are you just curious?" Soeharto asked.

One president

He answered that there can only be one president at a time to lead the country. "The law says there should be only one president, who can be re-elected every five years ..."

Tagina from Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, asked whether girls could become president and whether there was a certain school for the job.

"Yes, everyone is the same ... But you have to be a good leader who can master science, have a good conduct, abide by Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution," Soeharto said.

Other children asked whether Soeharto ever dreamed of becoming president during his childhood.

This brought the president to relate about the poor condition during his childhood when the nation was still a Dutch colony.

"In my village, I was the only one who could afford to go to school," Soeharto recounted. "My only ambition at that time was to fight for freedom," he said, adding that he became president "by accident" rather than by choice.

Others, such as Erwin Rahadi from West Nusa Tenggara, were concerned about his physically handicapped friends and asked whether they could become a doctor.

"A doctor? Yes, why not. People who are physically, but not mentally, handicapped can be doctors if they want... they can learn. Those who are blind can read and write, such as Helen Keller. She also became a world leader," Soeharto answered.

The President earlier received "The Spirit of Helen Keller" award from the Executive Director of Helen Keller International Incorporated, John Palmer, for Indonesia's achievements in eliminating blindness.

In a separate occasion, some 20,000 children from poor families got together to mark Children's Day at Jakarta's Taman Mini Indonesia park.

The Antara news agency reported that competitions, supervised by the office of the State Ministry of Population/ the National Planning Board, were held around the park's Bali pavilion, while the Panggung Gembira Anak stand presented entertainment sponsored by Minister of Health Sujudi and other government officials.

Sujudi explained that the government was currently struggling to improve children's health by providing health centers at the village, subdistrict and district levels and improving health services.

He said the government has implemented immunization programs to prevent infants and children from tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, polio, small-pox and respiratory infections. (pwn)