The President's dedication

The economy of Indonesia is in a free-fall. Each day more and more Indonesians lose their jobs. Each day essential commodity prices go higher and higher while the rupiah drops lower and lower.

The President at last appears in photos, looking too weakened by age, by work, by discouragement and loneliness to work on the nation's business. We read that instead he spent his Sunday inspecting his favorite Harley Davidson motorcycle and enjoying the words of his parrot. What is wrong with this picture? Where are the President's trusted advisors? Did they realize or did they intend for him to appear so out of touch with the worries of ordinary people by portraying him this way -- lost in reverie with expensive vehicles and pets and sad memories of Ibu Tien?

Will those around him manipulate the nation's wearied father, insisting that he carry the burdens of state even when it is obvious to all that he needs to rest? Will they let him sacrifice his own health and delay his country's economic recovery by failing to give him the advice he now needs and unconsciously may want to hear? "Pak Harto, it is time." Time for him to serve as an honored elder statesman, perhaps, but not to have to face the ordeals that await a president.

Indonesians speak often these days about succession plans. In fact, there is a very acceptable succession plan: the one that the Constitution enshrines. The Constitution provides that the president may be succeeded by either the vice president or by someone elected to the presidency, depending on the timing of the president's surrender of office.

Indonesia is a republic, not a monarchy. Unlike a monarch, the presidency is not designed for lifetime service. President Soeharto need not feel that he owes the country more than he has already given -- years of distinguished service and transforming leadership. His finest final service might be to advise the vice president he astutely chose five years ago, whom he has since then carefully monitored.

The President's sense of dedication may prevent him from taking the step to retire. Shouldn't those closest to him counsel the decision that his own dedicated spirit cannot yet give form to: retirement from office now, for the sake of his own health and that of the uncertain economy.

Are there those who, perhaps hoping to dominate Indonesia's future, badger a tired president with advice about who should be the next vice president? Are there those pleading with the President to hold on until March for this reason, until he yields to a vice presidential choice not of his own but of theirs, a choice made more in resignation than from conviction? In these next crucial months, the country needs a full-time, energetic president.

The President needs rest. But without a longer and fuller rest, can the President's health hold out, so that he might indeed serve as a guide for the next president? Can President Soeharto truly rest so long as he holds the office of President, knowing that the country's crises cry out for attention? Who are President Soeharto's closest advisors now (and who are their advisors), and do they care enough about the President's welfare and the country's, to suggest the unspeakable -- a speedy succession?

There is a prayer called Nunc Dimittis which was prayed by a priest named Simeon when he realized that his years of loyal temple service were fulfilled. It is found in the Gospel of Luke.

DONNA K. WOODWARD

Medan, North Sumatra