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Subject: [INDONESIA-L] NATION: Health Scare - All eyes on Indonesia's Suharto
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The Nation 12 December 1997
Editorial & Opinion
Health Scare: All eyes on
Indonesia's Suharto
Rumours about the health of the president
have shaken the country as it struggles with
an economic downturn.
Newspaper readers in Indonesia are well
trained in reading between the lines. Now
they are putting that skill to the test again
after Cabinet Secretary Murdiono
unexpectedly announced that President
Suharto had cancelled a planned trip to Iran
to take a 10-day rest.
Murdiono said Suharto was exhausted after
a 12-day trip that included stops in
Namibia, South Africa, Canada and Saudi
Arabia, and that doctors had advised him
to rest instead of heading for the three-day
summit of Islamic nations meeting in
Tehran.
''He could hardly rest during the tour
because he always worked, often until late
at night, to prepare for the summit and to
monitor domestic economic
developments,'' Murdiono explained,
adding quickly that his boss was in good
health and would remain in charge of state
affairs.
But in Indonesia, where the free flow of
information is periodically restricted, such
an announcement usually produces
something opposite to the desired calming
effect. Rumours soon circulated widely that
Suharto had a serious health problem.
Wilder rumours had it that the 76-year-old
leader had suffered a minor stroke, and
even that he had died. Despite official
denials, the stock and money markets
slumped drastically. The rupiah hit a record
low of 4,665 against the US dollar, down
from 4,155 on Monday.
The Associated Press quoted a
presidential doctor as saying that Suharto
suffers from hypertension and kidney
stones.
This is not the first time Suharto has had to
cut down on official state functions due to
health reasons.
In August 1994 he had to spend a night at
the Gatot Subroto army hospital in Jakarta
for treatment for the painful kidney ailment.
Indonesian state-owned TVRI interviewed
doctors and showed that Suharto had more
than a dozen kidney stones.
In July 1996, less than three months after
the death of his wife, Tien Suharto, Suharto
went to Germany for a medical check-up at
a health spa. He was given a clean bill of
health.
Political observers swapped rumours that
Suharto has been forced to take the long
absence, the first since he took power in
1965, because he needed an operation.
But such medical treatment needed to be
carried out in secret as a public
announcement would have probably have
further unsettled the stock market.
Such news might also trigger wider
speculation about his ability to remain in
power -- despite expectations that the
authoritarian leader is to be ''re-elected'' for
his seventh five-year term in office in March.
Suharto was in Vancouver last month for
the annual summit meeting of the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
He earlier visited President Nelson
Mandela in South Africa and arrived in
Jakarta this month after a stop in Mecca,
Islam's holiest city in Saudi Arabia.
A medical source at the presidential palace
said Suharto had been advised to conserve
his energy on the long Apec trip and should
even avoid playing golf, one of his favourite
sports, with US President Bill Clinton,
Canadian Premier Jean Chretien and
Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok
Tong in Vancouver.
Noted historian Ong Hok Ham said that
speculation about Suharto's health had
reminded the public of a similar problem in
mid-1965. The late President Sukarno was
then rumoured to have a serious kidney
problem.
''The rumours said that Sukarno's kidney
problem had reached an acute phase and
he could only survive for six more months,''
wrote Ong in the Kompas
daily, the biggest broadsheet in Indonesia,
adding that the widespread speculation
had prompted the Indonesian Communist
Party to initiate a political coup against
their army opponents and try to take power
on Sept 30, 1965.
But the coup attempt backfired. Suharto,
then a major general, consolidated the
army in only five days and smashed the
communists. It is widely believed that
between 300,000 and one million
allegedly leftist workers were killed in the
aftermath of the failed coup attempt.
Sukarno was sidelined. And Suharto rose
to power.
''Gossip, rumours and speculation are
always part of the Indonesian political
culture,'' said Ong, explaining that the
Sukarno rumours were later shown to be
false. But, he noted, the widespread
speculation proved more important than
the real situation.
Ong did not say whether he thought history
might repeat itself in Jakarta, but the
speculation about Suharto's health could
not come at a more critical time for the
country.
By Monday, the fragile Indonesian
currency had lost 48 per cent of its value
since July. The financial crisis
consequently led to the dismissal of more
than one million workers, most of them
newly-minted members of the middle
class from the property and financial
sectors. Food prices are on the rise.
Economic growth is disturbed. Confidence
is shaken.
Millions of workers still expect their
employers to pay their annual bonuses as
they prepare to make merry at four holiday
celebrations: Christmas Day (December),
New Year (January), Idul Fitri (January)
and the Chinese New Year (February).
Idul Fitri, the Muslim celebration at the
end of the fasting month known as
Ramadan, is particularly important and is
the biggest celebration in a nation where
more than 90 per cent of its 200 million
people are Muslims.
During Idul Fitri, Indonesian Muslims
traditionally come home, prepare special
meals, buy new clothing -- and spend
more money. Observers say the economic
crisis will start to bite when people find out
that they don't have the money to spend
on expensive food and new clothes as
usual. More protests are expected in the
industrial belts around Jakarta and
Surabaya in eastern Java.
In addition to the financial crisis, is the
long drought which contributed to the
burning of Indonesia's forests on the
islands of Kalimantan and Sumatra and
has also negatively affected rice
production in Indonesia.
A big question mark still hangs over
whether the ailing Suharto can navigate
the country through the turbulence. Even if
he uses his old habit of harsh repression,
will it be possible for him to keep control?
BY ANDREAS HARSONO