Soeharto stuns Japanese journalist

Soeharto stuns Japanese journalist

JAKARTA: Foreign correspondents raced to report on President
Soeharto casting his ballot Thursday in the vain hope of him
speaking to them like he did after voting in the 1992 election.

Just before leaving his neighborhood polling station on Jl.
Cendana, Central Jakarta, Soeharto posed for photographers.

The atmosphere was relaxed and the journalists closed in on
him, but no one dared to step forward and interview him. The
local and foreign journalists nudged and encouraged each other,
but no one moved until a reporter for Japanese TV station NHK was
pushed to the front.

He held his microphone toward Soeharto but words failed him.
After a moment's silence all he could manage was, "Er...er..."
before Soeharto got into a Mercedes jeep and was driven away.
(06)