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)