Battling over new space

By Faiza Rady

Suharto resigned with disgrace, Habibie is seen as a Suharto henchman ...

Thousands of protesting students, who were entrenched at the parliament building until Habibie dispatched the army to evict them last Thursday, agreed. Moreover, the students denounced Habibie as Suharto's yes-man, calling for his immediate resignation and demanding democratic elections. "I will demonstrate until the end, until all our demands are met... until the fall of Suharto, Habibie, House Speaker Harmoko and all those in the Suharto regime are ousted," said Yana, a 22-year-old medical student.

Immediately following Suharto's resignation, 61-year-old Vice-President Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie was sworn into the Presidency. A life-long protégé of the dictator, raised and politically groomed in the strongman's shadow since the early days of his youth, Habibie served as cabinet minister for 20 years before Suharto appointed him to the number two post last March. A German-trained aeronautical engineer, Habibie's only claim to fame was his absolute compliance with the fallen dictator and a propensity for dabbling in grandiose capital-intensive industrial schemes.

As research and technology minister, Habibie controlled the state aviation and weapon company IPTN, which has soaked up an estimated $5 billion of public funds -- with no tangible returns. "Habibie has sponsored 10 major projects in the highly sophisticated jetliner manufacturing sector that were designed to leapfrog Indonesia into rapid industrialisation," Malaysian professor of economics Jomo K S, and author of several books critiquing the so-called Asian economic miracle, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "The problem with these projects is that none of them are economically viable, at least in the short-term."

Habibie's latest extravaganza involved a multi-billion dollar project to build a 100-passenger Indonesian jetliner -- even after the East-Asian economic crisis hit Indonesia with a vengeance and the rupiah depreciated by 400 per cent against the US dollar over a nine-month period. It finally took the full impact of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) pressure to halt Habibie's often self-serving ventures at the height of the crisis.

During his years as minister, Habibie and his family reportedly amassed a vast fortune estimated at $60 million through diversified holdings in the chemical industry, construction, real estate, transport, communications and even a crocodile farm. The new president's two sons, Ilham Akbar and Thrareq Kamal, Habibie's younger sister Sri Rahayu Fatima as well as other family members are all involved in the family business, which includes the Timosco Group, a conglomerate managed by Habibie's youngest brother, Suyatim Abdulrachman. The Timosco Group controls more than 80 companies and is ranked as the country's 64th largest enterprise. It is notorious for having established a monopoly over government contracts, notably supplying IPTN with goods and services.

Habibie's mentor and model, fallen dictator Suharto, held on to the presidency until the eleventh hour. Following much desperate haggling with his political cronies and a futile last-ditch effort to hang on to power by attempting to sway the army's top brass to his side, Suharto was finally forced to resign on Thursday, 21 May.

... but will the people's power force Habibie's resignation?

After meeting with 11 cabinet ministers, who categorically refused to sit on a belated "reform committee" to initiate the political and economic reforms demanded by the country's striking students, a contrite and fumbling Suharto appeared on national television to read his last speech as a statesman. Speaking slowly and haltingly while intently staring at his text, a seemingly humbled Suharto said: "For the support and help from the people of Indonesia that I have received during my leadership, I ask for forgiveness if there are any mistakes or shortcomings."

Last Thursday's subdued, apologetic and frail-looking old man, looked innocuous enough to millions of television viewers worldwide. Yet Suharto's crime record is long and bloody and he has much to atone for. Acceding to power through a violent CIA-backed military coup, Suharto overthrew the democratically-elected government of Indonesia's founding father, leftist President Ahmed Sukarno, and is held responsible for the slaughter of an estimated 500,000 people. Consistently supported by the US throughout his iron-fist rule over Indonesia and often lauded by the Northern press as a "moderate" and "at heart benign" president, Suharto was given free reign to brutally crush any internal opposition to his regime as well as engage in territorial expansion and aggression.

Coveting neighbouring East Timor for its vast oil reserves, Suharto invaded the island in 1975. "Hundreds of thousands of people, mostly landless peasants, were slaughtered within a few months... and the island annexed," wrote renowned professor of linguistics and political writer, Noam Chomsky, adding that this facilitated the current joint Anglo-American/Indonesian pillage of the island's oil.

The resounding fall of its long-time protégé brought forth no signs of remorse from Washington, however. As far as the US was concerned it seemed to be business as usual with Indonesia. "Certainly on Indonesia, the US has proven to be there as friend for the long term and we intend to remain engaged and as helpful as we can be," announced Aurelia Brazeal, US deputy assistant secretary for East Asia and the Pacific, this week.

In Jakarta, most of the opposition leaders supported the students' demands for political reforms. Amnestied political prisoner, trade unionist Muchtar Pakpahan, who heads the Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union (SBSI), endorsed the call for democratic elections, an unknown phenomenon under the Suharto dictatorship. "Take last March's appointment of Habibie as vice-president," professor Jomo told the Weekly. "Under the constitution, the people's Consultative Assembly (MPR) has to agree to a vice-presidential appointment. Yet, the composition of the assembly itself is a farce -- 600 of the 1,000 delegates, claiming to represent Indonesia's 206 million people, were appointed by Suharto and belong to his ruling party, Golkar -- which evidently commands an absolute majority on every single vote. When Suharto appointed Habibie, MPs declined to even go through the motions. In lieu of voting, they simply shouted in unison: 'we agree, we agree', and voilà Habibie was inaugurated as vice-president," explained Jomo, adding that the assembly's only function for the last 32 years had been to faithfully extend Suharto's seven-year term every five years.

Surprisingly, the students' and opposition leaders' call for changing the autocratic system and holding democratic elections, even reached the inner circle of government. Six key ministers among Habibie's 36 freshly appointed cabinet ministers reiterated calls for early elections, reported the official Indonesian news agency Antara. Most prominent among them, Ginanjar Kartasasmita, the country's chief minister of the economy, expressed the need for democratic legitimacy.

"We need to have a new government with a new mandate from the people and this mandate is given through general elections," Ginanjar told journalists after being reappointed to Habibie's new cabinet. Seconding Ginanjar are Finance Minister Bambang Subanto, Industry and Trade Minister Rahadi Ramelan, Minister of National Development Planning Budiono, Minister for State Enterprises' Empowerment Tanri Abhen and Bank of Indonesia Governor Syahril Sabirin.

Are these powerful former Suharto-appointees, who control the country's economy, seriously demanding democratisation and political reforms? Some analysts believe that underlying the reformist jargon, the ministers' real motivation is to eliminate the new president. "There is a very strong tension between these people and Habibie, whose power base wielded through the Suharto clan has now eroded," said Jomo. "After all Ginanjar and his entourage are not part of the old gang."

In the wake of the Asian crisis, the International Monetary Fund forced Suharto in March to totally revamp his cabinet in order to break up his clan's cartel and monopoly over national capital. "These ministers were only recently appointed and are basically technocrats, who resent Habibie's former influence and pillage of state funds," explained Jomo, adding that the ministers' agenda in no way coincides with the workers' and students' demands.

"They are now attempting to appropriate the political space which was opened up by the people's uprising. Whether they will control it, remains to be seen," Jomo said.