Taufik flown to Australia for checkup
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Taufik Kiemas, the husband of President Megawati Soekarnoputri, was flown to Perth, Australia on Tuesday evening, after being treated overnight for heart problems at Jakarta's Harapan Kita Hospital.
Taufik was admitted to the hospital at midnight on Monday and received immediate treatment for several heart complaints.
One of the presidential doctors, Ganesja Harimurti, said there was nothing serious about Taufik's health and that he would only be receiving a heart checkup in Perth.
"Yes, I am going to Perth to accompany him but he is not in a serious condition. This is just a checkup," she told The Jakarta Post at Harapan Kita Hospital.
Ganesja added that Taufik would be treated at the same hospital where he had a by-pass operation late in 1999. Taufik underwent a heart operation not long after his wife President Megawati Soekarnoputri was elected vice president in October 1999.
One presidential staff member said that Taufik would be admitted to Mount Hospital in Perth. He also said that the first family's daughter Puan Maharani would accompany Taufik to Australia.
A legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), which Megawati chairs, told the Post that Taufik was rushed to Harapan Kita Hospital after he displayed all the symptoms of a heart attack at around 11:30 p.m. on Monday.
"He was apparently very tired after a punishing schedule. He had been to Palembang on Saturday, flew to Singapore on Sunday and got back on Monday evening. On Monday night he complained of an irregular heartbeat and some chest pain," the legislator said, after visiting Taufik at the hospital.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri saw her husband off at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Tuesday. Taufik took a commercial flight to Perth, which was scheduled to depart at 5 p.m.
The President canceled her schedule on Tuesday, which included a weekly meeting at the headquarters of PDI Perjuangan, to stay at the hospital.
Many government officials visited Taufik at Harapan Kita Hospital, including Vice President Hamzah Haz, several Cabinet ministers and legislators.
"He is conscious and able to speak," Hamzah told journalists.
House of Representatives Deputy Speaker A.M. Fatwa said that Megawati would not accompany her husband to Australia because it was not urgent enough and that the President had to deal with many issues ahead of the People's Consultative Assembly Annual Session on Nov. 1.
Taufik, 58, is known as a businessman and a senior legislator from Megawati's PDI Perjuangan party.
He has often been considered to be one of the prominent figures who supported the ascendancy of Megawati to the presidency after the ousting former president Abdurrahman Wahid.
However, some of his political opponents have dubbed him a "dirty" businessman and accused him of frequently meddling in state affairs.