Soeharto still loved by the people: ABRI

JAKARTA (JP): The Armed Forces (ABRI) dismissed suggestions yesterday that President Soeharto had lost the people's confidence because of the ongoing monetary crisis.

ABRI spokesman Brig. Gen. A. Wahab Mokodongan claimed that the Armed Forces Headquarters had verified the nation's support for Soeharto's presidential renomination through its officials long before the General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) started at the beginning of last month.

"The census by our officials concluded that most Indonesians wanted Pak Harto to be renominated in the recent presidential election," he told reporters at the ABRI Merdeka Barat Headquarters.

He dismissed speculation that the results of the census by ABRI officials were invalid.

"We ordered our soldiers stationed... in villages and subdistricts to determine the people's aspirations regarding the state's leadership," he said.

"If any of them ignored the Armed Forces Headquarters' instruction, they were disciplined," he added.

Wahab said the people were fully aware that the President was an aged man, "yet the country still needs Pak Harto to lead it through the monetary crisis."

He said demands from university students that Soeharto should immediately step down were groundless.

"University students should have never thought that President Soeharto would be willing to quit," he said.

"It's merely on strategic grounds," he said of Soeharto's reelection. "A nation in crisis needs a capable and experienced leader."

Wahab also doubted that students throughout the country were really united in wanting the 76-year-old President to resign. (imn)