The chicken has been fried: Ghalib

JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Lt. Gen. Andi Muhammad Ghalib became the star of the cabinet meeting on Wednesday when his colleagues and even President B.J. Habibie asked him what he had done with a chicken he received from protesting students one day earlier.

The fate of the chicken became a hot issue before and during the six-hour cabinet meeting. The President and ministers burst into laughter when Ghalib gave them the details about the hen.

"It's been fried and finished Pak," he replied when Armed Forces (ABRI) Commander Gen. Wiranto jokingly asked for a piece of the fowl.

Outraged students presented a chicken to Ghalib on Tuesday after he turned down their demand to set a deadline for the investigation of former president Soeharto's wealth. Calling Ghalib a hen rather than a tiger, students told him that he had been acting more as Soeharto's defense lawyer than an investigative chief.

Minister of Industry and Trade Rahardi Ramelan joked that the chicken must be delicious because it was presented by pretty female students.

"Ministers are expected to be strong. This is a part of our struggle," the President was quoted by Minister of Information Muhammad Yunus as saying in an attempt to console Ghalib.

According to a palace official, Habibie clamped his hands to his mouth trying to smother his laughter, but eventually failed.

"The President tried not to offend Pak Ghalib," said the smiling official.

Later Ghalib told journalists that his staff members had roasted the chicken at the office. He said they did not give him a piece.

"They did not even give me a single piece," Ghalib said.

Ghalib said he was not insulted by the students, and that he could understand their frustration and impatience with the legal machineries deployed in the investigation.

"They are also my children," he said seriously.

"I was not prepared at all for the gift," he told State Minister of State Enterprises Tanri Abeng who stood next to him.

Ghalib had once compared his investigation into Soeharto's alleged fortune to police investigations into chicken theft.

"Police can not arrest a thief when they can not present the stolen chicken as an evidence," he said last month. (prb)