The President's dedication

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