Soeharto wants payment of house money postponed

Soeharto wants payment of house money postponed

JAKARTA (JP): Former president Soeharto has asked the
government to postpone payment of a Rp 26.6 billion housing
allowance for him until the national economy recovers.

"As the physical timing of the allowance is not yet suitable,
please convey to President Habibie to find a more appropriate
time, and just postpone it for a while," Minister/State Secretary
Akbar Tandjung quoted Soeharto as telling him.

"It is better to postpone it until a more appropriate time
when people will eventually feel that the gift is proper."

Akbar said Soeharto told him he did not want to cause more
burdens for the government.

The minister said he met Soeharto at the latter's residence on
Jl. Cendana, Central Jakarta, but refused to disclose when it
happened.

"What's important is that I have met with him... I also
conveyed to him the reaction of the public and the House of
Representatives (over the plan)," Akbar said.

Akbar on Tuesday expressed the government's intention to go
ahead with a plan to provide the Rp 26.6 billion housing
allowance -- not Rp 26.5 billion as he initially stated --
despite strong public criticism.

Legislators initially decried the decision as frivolous
spending under tight monetary conditions.

Law No.7/1978 requires the government to provide former
presidents and vice presidents with a home, car and chauffeur
each, pensions equivalent to 100 percent of their basic salary, a
small security detail and waivers from paying telephone, water
and electricity bills.

Former vice presidents during Soeharto's 32-year tenure have
reportedly received the benefits.

Akbar said yesterday the government had initially sought a
house for Soeharto in the elite Central Jakarta area of Menteng,
where his Cendana residence is located. His six children and
grandchildren have homes nearby.

But Soeharto specified he would prefer to receive cash instead
because he had built his own house at the Purna Bhakti Museum
complex in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, East Jakarta.

Built in 1993, the 3,000-square-meter structure stands on one
hectare of land. Soeharto and his family often spend their
weekends there.

According to Akbar, Soeharto said he was fully aware of the
public outcry against the plan.

Soeharto intends to use the housing allowance to help the
rural poor, Akbar said.

"I will use and give the money for needy people, because I
feel what I receive as my (monthly) pension of between Rp 10
million to Rp 15 million is enough to support my daily needs,"
Akbar quoted Soeharto as saying.

While President Habibie's government has appeared willing to
weather a public flogging to ensure Soeharto receives these
benefits, the latter's government was reportedly not as generous
in dealing with president Sukarno.

Sukarno's family has claimed the country's founding father
received few gratuities after he formally stepped down in 1967,
and that his house on Jl. Batu Tulis in Bogor, West Java, was
seized by the government for unclear reasons.

Akbar said yesterday the government was willing to settle the
dispute with Sukarno's family, but asserted that family members
themselves were divided over the ownership.

"It's true that it remains under government supervision like
other (Sukarno) houses. But the ownership has yet to be decided,
as the family has not reached a common stance on it."

Separately, informed sources said the government also
presented Soeharto's first vice president, Sri Sultan
Hamengkubuwono IX, with a house in Central Jakarta after he ended
his five-year term of office in 1978.

However, the source said the government repossessed the house
a few days after he died on Oct. 2, 1988. It reportedly serves
as the office of the National Handicraft Council. (prb)