Surprise! You're Wahyu's father

By Listiana Operananta

JAKARTA (JP): Some "revelations" travel slower than others in this information age. Akhmad Riyadi only learned he was the proud father of Indonesia's 200-millionth citizen yesterday, nearly 24 hours after the honor was announced nationwide.

Riyadi has been in nearby Bekasi for the past two weeks attending a vocational course to prepare him to train in an automotive plant in Japan. He did not even know that his wife had given birth, let alone that his newborn son was the toast of the nation.

"We weren't expecting him until Feb.13," Riyadi told The Jakarta Post.

President Soeharto named the baby Wahyu Nusantaraaji, literally "a valuable revelation for Indonesia".

Riyadi, 28, became aware of the good news yesterday morning when the SCTV television station requested an interview. The TV reporters had to show the disbelieving father yesterday's Kompas newspaper to convince him.

His wife, 26-year-old Rohana, gave birth to a healthy 3.9-kg baby boy Tuesday in his home village in Lombok Timur, about 40 km from Mataram, the capital of West Nusa Tenggara. Riady does not have a phone and no one had bothered to try to contact him in Bekasi with the good news Wednesday.

The "revelation" was so great he had to take a drink of water, and so effectively broke his fast.

Asked about the name chosen by Soeharto, he said: "It's a very beautiful name. We'll probably call him Aji."

He confided that he had not prepared any name for the baby but that his wife might have prepared several.

Aji, who has a three-year-old sister, Miradianasari, is assured of scholarships for as long as he wants to study as part of his prize of being named the 200th-million citizen.

"It will be a challenging task raising him because we'll have the nation's eyes and ears on us and our child," said Riyadi, a 1994 economics graduate from the University of Mataram. "But my wife and I will try our best to raise him properly and make sure that he stays on the straight and narrow," he added.

He has no plans yet for Aji, but with the scholarships, he hopes his son will grow up to become an honest and upright man.

Riyadi said he probably would not see his baby in the near future because after completing his course in Bekasi he has to go to Japan next month for two years.