Tutut sometimes loses tender for govt projects
By K. Basrie
PASURUAN, East Java (JP): Businesswoman Siti Hardiyanti Indra Rukmana, President Soeharto's eldest daughter, insists people are wrong to believe she always wins government projects.
"I have often lost tenders (of government projects), but few people know that because it is not reported in the media the way they do when I win," she responded yesterday when asked a question by a participant of the ongoing Youth March she is sponsoring.
Mbak Tutut, as she is better known, said that she never pressures any officials to award contracts to her.
"You know, I cannot say 'hey... give me the contract because I'm the President's daughter," she said. "I never do that. You can check this (claim) with anyone you like," she said to thunderous laughter and applause.
Hardiyanti, her younger brother Bambang Trihatmodjo and Hutomo Mandala Putra publicly explained their position after the businesses of bureaucrats' offspring came under close scrutiny last month.
The business practices of officials' children was raised by members of the House of Representatives in a hearing with Attorney General Singgih last month.
"When I lose a bid, I would just thank God anyway because I believe that it is God's will. If I insist on winning it, I may mess it up," Hardiyanti said.
The businesswoman who owns the widely diversified Lamtorogung holding company, which controls everything from medicine to toll roads, said she is personally opposed to the practice of abusing a parent's position in the bureaucracy.
She proposed that the government take firm action against officials who misuse their power to help their offsprings' businesses.
Hardiyanti, who is a deputy chairperson of the ruling Golkar, maintained that the government should treat all entrepreneurs on an equal basis, disregarding their position in society.
"The government should at least reprimand entrepreneurs who abuse their parents' position," she said.
For her part, she said, her father has advised that she shouldn't seek facilities from him.
"My father, who happens to be trusted by the people to lead the nation, has always reminded me not to use his name for business purposes," she told hundreds of rally participants, local officials and curious onlookers.
Hardiyanti is traveling across the country to lead the youth rally sponsored by the Tiara Foundation, which she chairs.
She promised to use part of the profits from her numerous companies to finance the yearly rally that started in 1990. The event is intended to "help unite Indonesian youth".
More than 1,100 selected juveniles from all over Indonesia are taking part in the fourth rally which began July 17 and will end on Aug. 21.
The rally organizing committee has been inviting foreign adolescents since 1993 to allow them to get to know Indonesia better.
This year, 400 guests from 22 countries will take part in the event, which also attracts hundreds of local youths in each town the group passes through.
The 400 foreign participants are from Australia, Belgium, Brunei, Egypt, Germany, Hungary, Jordan, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), the Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Palestine, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, the United Kingdom, the United States, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.