Tutut 'opposes' her father's reelection

SEMARANG (JP): President Soeharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, said yesterday she would prefer if her father were not reelected so he could spend more time with his family.

"I am speaking honestly here, and only Allah knows," Mbak Tutut, as she is popularly known, said addressing thousands of students at Semarang's Diponegoro University. "If you ask me... my answer is: I personally don't want him to be president again because he never had time for his family."

"For years now, he has had only a little time for us," said Hardiyanti.

"Let me say the truth and use my right (as a daughter), rather than observing my duties. I beg you (the nation) not to (reelect him).

"But then it's not me who would be reelecting him, but the people of Indonesia," she said.

Hardiyanti is a leader of the ruling Golkar group which has officially declared its intention to renominate Soeharto to his seventh consecutive term next March. She is also a member of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) which will convene next March to elect a president and vice president and endorse the 1998/2003 State Policy Guidelines.

Responding to a student's query about Soeharto's health, she said: "He's healthy now. Please God, may he be able to finish the duties that the people have mandated to him until next March. May he be given the strength to carry on."

"As for the future, we leave everything to the people and God, this is not yet the time to talk about the next president," she said. "The MPR assembly hasn't even begun. Let's wait and see."

"The highest power is in the hands of the MPR," she said. "If he is deemed incompetent, don't reelect him. Don't choose a president out of deference, but see if he is capable."

Regarding some people's intention to name her a vice presidential candidate, Hardiyanti demurred. "I have limited capability," she said. "But if this is the command of the people, then whoever and wherever a person is, he or she must do it."

"But... if the father is the president, wouldn't it be funny if the daughter became the vice president?" she said. "Would it be appropriate for the child of a president to become the vice president?" (har/swe)