Oh my i havent heard about texmaco in years. They had a national car/truck project at the time iirc... and then one of the owners took his own life? Wonder how it will be ITTL
Indonesia ATL: The Presidency of Try Sutrisno (1997-)
- Thread starter GSD310
- Start date
Oh my i havent heard about texmaco in years. They had a national car/truck project at the time iirc... and then one of the owners took his own life? Wonder how it will be ITTL
It was Marimutu’s brother who committed suicide. Texmaco was making trucks that had 70% local content and was aiming to increase that to 90%. It didn’t get a national project status but it was certainly more “National” than Tommy’s import from Korea and slap on a Timor logo scheme.
OTL, Marimutu got approval for three different loans between September 1997 and March 1998 to export goods which hasn’t even been produced yet (which is starting to go into legally questionable territory). The third of these loans was approved by Soeharto himself (Marimutu wrote to Soeharto directly in December 1997). This is on top of him being a bank owner and a BLBI recipient.
ITTL:
Marimutu shied away from writing a letter to the new President and waited until Try was definitively elected in March 1998 before trying to ingratiate himself with the new government.
Marimutu’s Trucks has gained the interest and sympathy of Minister of Industry Siswono Yudohusodo. Though being the clean skin that Siswono is, he told Marimutu to settle his BLBI repayments first before any special facilities could be considered.
In the meantime, the Attorney General’s Office is building a report against Marimutu because the loans that he got from the BNI between September and and November 1997 had not been used for its intended purpose.
State Secretary Edi Sudrajat is aware and approves of Siswono’s dealing with Marimutu. He has also talked to Attorney General Soedjono C. Atmonegoro about Marimutu’s possible prosecution. Both he and Soedjono agree that if “we can’t convict Tommy Soeharto in the Bulog landswap case, we don’t have the credibility to go after anyone.”
Thus far Edi has not brought Marimutu’s matter to Try’s attention; believing that the President has more urgent things to worry about.
Thought the brothers co-own texmaco? One was sinivasan and the other narineyan? Anyway i read that it went bankrupt and seized by PPA but several years ago marimutu won it back tho i dont know in what condition
77: 6.1%
20th December 1999:
Trucks carrying large piles of cash arrive at the BI building carrying this year’s installment of BLBI repayments. Governor of BI Boediono and Minister of Finance Mar’ie Muhammad did a joint press conference standing in front of one of the trucks.
They inform those present that at the time BLBI assistance ceased on 31st March this year, a total of Rp. 72 trillion had been handed out as BLBI assistance. Each year the repayments are Rp. 14.5 trillion before interest. For the last national budget, the repayments were held as reserve funds in case the economy was not recovering as well as expected. For the next budget, the funds will be used for productive purposes.
21st December 1999:
The President met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Ginandjar Kartasasmita. Ginandjar said he tended towards Indonesia supporting Eisuke Sakakibara’s candidacy for IMF Managing Director. He also said that there was a message from the Australian Embassy that there will be a “high-ranking official in Indonesia in a private capacity wishing to speak about Indonesia’s situation with the IMF” on 27th December.
Try was cautious towards the advice to support Sakakibara given Ginandjar’s pro-Japan leanings but told Ginandjar that he will see the “Australian official”.
22nd December 1999:
Try, accompanied by State Minister of Female Empowerment and Childrens’ Welfare Khofifah Indar Parawansa, marked Mother’s Day by launching the Open Your Eyes, Open Your Ears Campaign (Buka Mata, Buka Telinga) which seeks to promote awareness of violence against women.
Former Vice President Sudharmono, in his capacity as Chairman of the Holding and Overseeing of Golkar Provincial Congresses, distributes the schedule of the provincial congresses to Golkar members around the nation.
24th December 1999:
Try broke his fast with his Four Horsemen as Jakarta began to wind down for the end of year holidays. The topic of the night was the schedule of the provincial congresses.
“What do you all make of it?” asked Try opening the discussion.
“It seems to me the Provincial Congresses are done by geographical order?” guessed Ari Sudewo “Jakarta first, then the rest of Java, then the rest of Indonesia.”
“Jakarta first then Central Java and West Java…” said Edi Sudrajat while reading the schedule.
“They’re going after the two big provincial branches in Java that aren’t the President’s home province”, replied Harsudiono Hartas.
Try smiled faintly and looked at Sugeng Subroto.
“The Chairman of Golkar’s Central Java Provincial Branch is Alip Pandoyo and the Chairman of Golkar’s West Java Provincial Branch is Abdul Nurhaman”, replied Sugeng “When the President and I were the Commander and Chief of Staff at the Jakarta Regional Military Command, Alip was the intelligence assistant and Abdul Nurhaman was the operations assistant.”
“Talk about aiming for the heart”, muttered Harsudiono “Tutut’s not only going after two big provincial branches, she’s going after the two provincial chairmen closest to the President.”
“And all of this helped along by Sudharmono”, added Edi “Harmoko tells me that our coalition partners are uneasy about the fact that he’s been compromised.”
“Can we afford to ditch Sudharmono?” asked Sugeng.
“Only if we can be sure Ginandjar will stick with us”, replied Ari Sudewo.
“I think right now we should focus on our coalition partners and how we can calm them down”, said Try “If they’re not calm, then we’ll put ourselves in a difficult position. I’m just wondering how we can calm them down.”
There was silence in the room.
“Gus Dur is already aware of Operation Lifeboat”, replied Harsudiono finally “Perhaps Harmoko, Wahono, Habibie, Amien Rais, and Matori should be made aware of Operation Lifeboat.”
26th December 1999:
The Soeharto Family hold a private fast breaking though there were some non-family members invited as well. After dinner, Chairwoman of Golkar Tutut Soeharto disappeared inside a room with a small entourage. Here, Tutut signed off on her resignation as Chairwoman of all but one of the foundations chaired by Soeharto; turning over control of these foundations to her youngest sister Mamiek Soeharto.
The only foundation that remained in Tutut’s hands is Dakab, the foundation set up by Soeharto provide campaign funds for Golkar.
“I want to fully focus on Golkar next year”, Tutut was heard saying.
27th December 1999:
The “Australian Official” Ginandjar spoke to Try about the previous week turned out to be Treasurer of Australia Peter Costello. He and his family were in transit in Jakarta on the way to Bali had a few hours to spare. Try and Costello talked about various matters though the first and foremost in their minds were Indonesia’s situation with the IMF. Try said he doesn’t understand why IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus started to take a hard line.
“I think it’s because he thinks as a result of you getting leniency on your IMF Package, he’s got to deal with Russia, Brazil, and most recently Argentina asking for leniency as well in their IMF Packages, Mr. President”, said Costello “That’s why he feels he has to take a tough stance with you.”
“I don’t know the specifics about what’s happening in those 3 countries, only that in Indonesia, I haven’t done anything to contradict IMF policy”, explained Try “What I have agreed to in writing with the IMF, I’ve done.”
“I realize that, Mr. President”, said Costello.
“And might I add, it’s not going to be a good look if just as our economy is beginning to do well, the IMF wants us to commit to policies which has the potential to delay economic recovery”, said Try.
Costello said that he will be at Washington DC in January and that he’ll talk to US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and Camdessus. He said that he’ll be arguing for the leniency that had been shown to Indonesia since January 1998 and once again putting forward that it’s not going to be good for stability in the region if Indonesia commits to the IMF’s policies but causes unrest within its populace.
Try walked Costello to the latter’s car. As he was about to enter, Costello asked Try if he’s been invited to the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland in January.
“I have”, said Try “Still haven’t made up my mind whether or not I should go.”
“You should”, said Costello “Bill Clinton’s going to be there, perhaps you can make your case to him directly.”
28th December 1999:
There was silence around the room when Try was finished. Chairman of DPR Harmoko looked impressed, former Chairman of DPR Wahono and Chairman of NU Abdurrahman Wahid looked thoughtful, Chairman of Muhammadiyah Amien Rais tried to keep a poker face, Chairman of ICMI BJ Habibie and Chairman of PPP Matori Abdul Djalil looked confused. In the corner of the room State Secretary Edi Sudrajat and Minister of Home Affairs Harsudiono Hartas wondered if this was such a good idea.
“I think that we should support the President on this”, began Harmoko “I think even with Tutut as the Chairwoman of Golkar and even with her followers running around trying to scare the President’s supporters into submission, this will give them a platform to fight back. Are the government’s supporters in the provinces aware of this, Mr. President?”
“Yes”, said Try “They’re going to coordinate the fight against Tutut’s supporters at the various provincial congresses through Operation Lifeboat. Operation Lifeboat now has a secretariat on the grounds of Sultan Hamengkubuwono X’s palace.”
As the discussion wore on, there was a point Matori wanted to make. He was elbowed in the ribs by Amien who whispered that this was a “Golkar matter” and that they should just listen.
“I’m sorry”, Habibie said interrupting the discussion “I’m not sure I understand the situation, Mr. President. Are you forming a new Golkar with this Operation Lifeboat? This means there’s going to be 2 Golkars, right?”
29th December 1999:
The President arrived at Palembang in the morning at the head of a small delegation which included Edi Sudrajat, Minister of Economics and National Development Planning Soedradjad Djiwandono, and Minister of Industry Siswono Yudohusodo. They were welcomed by Governor of South Sumatra Bimo Prakoso and Commander of the Southern Sumatra Regional Military Command Syamsul Ma’arif.
At Ogan Komering Ulu, the President inaugurated the optimilization of Baturaja Cement Factory’s Second Unit which increased its production capacity from 500,000 tonnes per annum to 1,250,000 per annum. In his keynote speech, Try said that the focus for the year 2000 for the government will be on pushing for existing projects, be they toll roads, electricity generators, and factories to be completed; if possible ahead of time. This was so that the government could then go on and complete other projects.
Siswono said to the gathered media that the production of more cement will increase the supply of cement and tend to push the prices of cement down given that cement prices are now left to the market.
30th December 1999:
In a joint press conference, Minister of Agriculture Sarwono Kusumaatamdja, Minister of Forestry and Environment Barnabas Suebu, Minister of Public Works Rachmat Witoelar, and Minister of Transmigration Hendropriyono announced that they have received approval from the President to cease funding the program to convert 1 million hectares of peatland into land for agriculture and transmigration.
Suebu explained that the project has done more harm than good. The canals and pipes built into the peatlands has caused the peat to dry up and make it difficult to absorb water and nutrients. Sarwono said that this has instead made land that is not suitable for agriculture, forcing people to resort to such things as illegal loggings and hunting local, sometimes endangered, animals to survive.
Hendropriyono said there are 15,000 transmigrants living in these peatlands if they wished to do so, the Department of Transmigration will move them.
31st December 1999:
Minister of Economics and National Development Planning Soedradjad Djiwandono, Cabinet Secretary Hayono Isman, and Head of BPS Gunawan Sumodiningrat sat down for a joint press conference after a meeting with the President and announce the statistics
“Broadly speaking, across all sectors, the trend points in the direction of recovery. Tourism and exports still lead the way. Coming in third is oil and gas with better than expected oil prices in 1999. Other sectors such as manufacturing and agriculture are also well on their way to recovery with construction bringing up the rear”, explained Gunawan.
Soedradjad spoke next saying that the economy in 1999 “was almost certainly” shaping up to be larger than 1998 because the government had slowed the economic decline from the effects of the currency crisis. It was just a matter of how much. Soedradjad announced the macro-economic stats which included the following:
Unemployment: 7.8% (Down from 9%. Unemployment turning a corner in the second half in 1999)
Inflation: 6% (Down from 14%. Inflation tended to be stable but begins to rise from July-August onwards due to increasing demand from individuals and families beginning to spend money again and businesses from inside Indonesia wanting to order raw material for their businesses.
Economic Growth: 6.1% (Up from 3.9%).
Try watched the press conference in his office accompanied by Vice President JB Sumarlin.
“6.1% is good. It means we’re well-positioned to go back to pre-crisis rates of economic growth in 2000”, said Sumarlin.
“How does 6.1% look in a negotiation with Camdessus, Mr. Vice President?” asked Try “My concern when he began to show signs of wanting to toughen up on us is that we haven’t recovered and then we’d have to choose between go our own way before we’re ready and end up struggling or having to accept the IMF toughening up and take longer to recover.”
“6.1% for a recovering economy is strong”, encouraged Sumarlin “I think we can do a lot with 6.1%.”
Try nodded.
“In the meantime, Mr. President, you and the nation should enjoy this New Year’s Eve”, said Sumarlin “I think it’s safe to say that the crisis is over.”
---
The Buka Mata Buka Telinga program is based on OTL Habibie's. https://www.google.com/search?biw=1......0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..1.0.0....0.mlY1r-k9qg0
The peatlands program initiated by Soeharto was disaster. It too was stopped by this point in time OTL.
Trucks carrying large piles of cash arrive at the BI building carrying this year’s installment of BLBI repayments. Governor of BI Boediono and Minister of Finance Mar’ie Muhammad did a joint press conference standing in front of one of the trucks.
They inform those present that at the time BLBI assistance ceased on 31st March this year, a total of Rp. 72 trillion had been handed out as BLBI assistance. Each year the repayments are Rp. 14.5 trillion before interest. For the last national budget, the repayments were held as reserve funds in case the economy was not recovering as well as expected. For the next budget, the funds will be used for productive purposes.
21st December 1999:
The President met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Ginandjar Kartasasmita. Ginandjar said he tended towards Indonesia supporting Eisuke Sakakibara’s candidacy for IMF Managing Director. He also said that there was a message from the Australian Embassy that there will be a “high-ranking official in Indonesia in a private capacity wishing to speak about Indonesia’s situation with the IMF” on 27th December.
Try was cautious towards the advice to support Sakakibara given Ginandjar’s pro-Japan leanings but told Ginandjar that he will see the “Australian official”.
22nd December 1999:
Try, accompanied by State Minister of Female Empowerment and Childrens’ Welfare Khofifah Indar Parawansa, marked Mother’s Day by launching the Open Your Eyes, Open Your Ears Campaign (Buka Mata, Buka Telinga) which seeks to promote awareness of violence against women.
Former Vice President Sudharmono, in his capacity as Chairman of the Holding and Overseeing of Golkar Provincial Congresses, distributes the schedule of the provincial congresses to Golkar members around the nation.
24th December 1999:
Try broke his fast with his Four Horsemen as Jakarta began to wind down for the end of year holidays. The topic of the night was the schedule of the provincial congresses.
“What do you all make of it?” asked Try opening the discussion.
“It seems to me the Provincial Congresses are done by geographical order?” guessed Ari Sudewo “Jakarta first, then the rest of Java, then the rest of Indonesia.”
“Jakarta first then Central Java and West Java…” said Edi Sudrajat while reading the schedule.
“They’re going after the two big provincial branches in Java that aren’t the President’s home province”, replied Harsudiono Hartas.
Try smiled faintly and looked at Sugeng Subroto.
“The Chairman of Golkar’s Central Java Provincial Branch is Alip Pandoyo and the Chairman of Golkar’s West Java Provincial Branch is Abdul Nurhaman”, replied Sugeng “When the President and I were the Commander and Chief of Staff at the Jakarta Regional Military Command, Alip was the intelligence assistant and Abdul Nurhaman was the operations assistant.”
“Talk about aiming for the heart”, muttered Harsudiono “Tutut’s not only going after two big provincial branches, she’s going after the two provincial chairmen closest to the President.”
“And all of this helped along by Sudharmono”, added Edi “Harmoko tells me that our coalition partners are uneasy about the fact that he’s been compromised.”
“Can we afford to ditch Sudharmono?” asked Sugeng.
“Only if we can be sure Ginandjar will stick with us”, replied Ari Sudewo.
“I think right now we should focus on our coalition partners and how we can calm them down”, said Try “If they’re not calm, then we’ll put ourselves in a difficult position. I’m just wondering how we can calm them down.”
There was silence in the room.
“Gus Dur is already aware of Operation Lifeboat”, replied Harsudiono finally “Perhaps Harmoko, Wahono, Habibie, Amien Rais, and Matori should be made aware of Operation Lifeboat.”
26th December 1999:
The Soeharto Family hold a private fast breaking though there were some non-family members invited as well. After dinner, Chairwoman of Golkar Tutut Soeharto disappeared inside a room with a small entourage. Here, Tutut signed off on her resignation as Chairwoman of all but one of the foundations chaired by Soeharto; turning over control of these foundations to her youngest sister Mamiek Soeharto.
The only foundation that remained in Tutut’s hands is Dakab, the foundation set up by Soeharto provide campaign funds for Golkar.
“I want to fully focus on Golkar next year”, Tutut was heard saying.
27th December 1999:
The “Australian Official” Ginandjar spoke to Try about the previous week turned out to be Treasurer of Australia Peter Costello. He and his family were in transit in Jakarta on the way to Bali had a few hours to spare. Try and Costello talked about various matters though the first and foremost in their minds were Indonesia’s situation with the IMF. Try said he doesn’t understand why IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus started to take a hard line.
“I think it’s because he thinks as a result of you getting leniency on your IMF Package, he’s got to deal with Russia, Brazil, and most recently Argentina asking for leniency as well in their IMF Packages, Mr. President”, said Costello “That’s why he feels he has to take a tough stance with you.”
“I don’t know the specifics about what’s happening in those 3 countries, only that in Indonesia, I haven’t done anything to contradict IMF policy”, explained Try “What I have agreed to in writing with the IMF, I’ve done.”
“I realize that, Mr. President”, said Costello.
“And might I add, it’s not going to be a good look if just as our economy is beginning to do well, the IMF wants us to commit to policies which has the potential to delay economic recovery”, said Try.
Costello said that he will be at Washington DC in January and that he’ll talk to US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and Camdessus. He said that he’ll be arguing for the leniency that had been shown to Indonesia since January 1998 and once again putting forward that it’s not going to be good for stability in the region if Indonesia commits to the IMF’s policies but causes unrest within its populace.
Try walked Costello to the latter’s car. As he was about to enter, Costello asked Try if he’s been invited to the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland in January.
“I have”, said Try “Still haven’t made up my mind whether or not I should go.”
“You should”, said Costello “Bill Clinton’s going to be there, perhaps you can make your case to him directly.”
28th December 1999:
There was silence around the room when Try was finished. Chairman of DPR Harmoko looked impressed, former Chairman of DPR Wahono and Chairman of NU Abdurrahman Wahid looked thoughtful, Chairman of Muhammadiyah Amien Rais tried to keep a poker face, Chairman of ICMI BJ Habibie and Chairman of PPP Matori Abdul Djalil looked confused. In the corner of the room State Secretary Edi Sudrajat and Minister of Home Affairs Harsudiono Hartas wondered if this was such a good idea.
“I think that we should support the President on this”, began Harmoko “I think even with Tutut as the Chairwoman of Golkar and even with her followers running around trying to scare the President’s supporters into submission, this will give them a platform to fight back. Are the government’s supporters in the provinces aware of this, Mr. President?”
“Yes”, said Try “They’re going to coordinate the fight against Tutut’s supporters at the various provincial congresses through Operation Lifeboat. Operation Lifeboat now has a secretariat on the grounds of Sultan Hamengkubuwono X’s palace.”
As the discussion wore on, there was a point Matori wanted to make. He was elbowed in the ribs by Amien who whispered that this was a “Golkar matter” and that they should just listen.
“I’m sorry”, Habibie said interrupting the discussion “I’m not sure I understand the situation, Mr. President. Are you forming a new Golkar with this Operation Lifeboat? This means there’s going to be 2 Golkars, right?”
29th December 1999:
The President arrived at Palembang in the morning at the head of a small delegation which included Edi Sudrajat, Minister of Economics and National Development Planning Soedradjad Djiwandono, and Minister of Industry Siswono Yudohusodo. They were welcomed by Governor of South Sumatra Bimo Prakoso and Commander of the Southern Sumatra Regional Military Command Syamsul Ma’arif.
At Ogan Komering Ulu, the President inaugurated the optimilization of Baturaja Cement Factory’s Second Unit which increased its production capacity from 500,000 tonnes per annum to 1,250,000 per annum. In his keynote speech, Try said that the focus for the year 2000 for the government will be on pushing for existing projects, be they toll roads, electricity generators, and factories to be completed; if possible ahead of time. This was so that the government could then go on and complete other projects.
Siswono said to the gathered media that the production of more cement will increase the supply of cement and tend to push the prices of cement down given that cement prices are now left to the market.
30th December 1999:
In a joint press conference, Minister of Agriculture Sarwono Kusumaatamdja, Minister of Forestry and Environment Barnabas Suebu, Minister of Public Works Rachmat Witoelar, and Minister of Transmigration Hendropriyono announced that they have received approval from the President to cease funding the program to convert 1 million hectares of peatland into land for agriculture and transmigration.
Suebu explained that the project has done more harm than good. The canals and pipes built into the peatlands has caused the peat to dry up and make it difficult to absorb water and nutrients. Sarwono said that this has instead made land that is not suitable for agriculture, forcing people to resort to such things as illegal loggings and hunting local, sometimes endangered, animals to survive.
Hendropriyono said there are 15,000 transmigrants living in these peatlands if they wished to do so, the Department of Transmigration will move them.
31st December 1999:
Minister of Economics and National Development Planning Soedradjad Djiwandono, Cabinet Secretary Hayono Isman, and Head of BPS Gunawan Sumodiningrat sat down for a joint press conference after a meeting with the President and announce the statistics
“Broadly speaking, across all sectors, the trend points in the direction of recovery. Tourism and exports still lead the way. Coming in third is oil and gas with better than expected oil prices in 1999. Other sectors such as manufacturing and agriculture are also well on their way to recovery with construction bringing up the rear”, explained Gunawan.
Soedradjad spoke next saying that the economy in 1999 “was almost certainly” shaping up to be larger than 1998 because the government had slowed the economic decline from the effects of the currency crisis. It was just a matter of how much. Soedradjad announced the macro-economic stats which included the following:
Unemployment: 7.8% (Down from 9%. Unemployment turning a corner in the second half in 1999)
Inflation: 6% (Down from 14%. Inflation tended to be stable but begins to rise from July-August onwards due to increasing demand from individuals and families beginning to spend money again and businesses from inside Indonesia wanting to order raw material for their businesses.
Economic Growth: 6.1% (Up from 3.9%).
Try watched the press conference in his office accompanied by Vice President JB Sumarlin.
“6.1% is good. It means we’re well-positioned to go back to pre-crisis rates of economic growth in 2000”, said Sumarlin.
“How does 6.1% look in a negotiation with Camdessus, Mr. Vice President?” asked Try “My concern when he began to show signs of wanting to toughen up on us is that we haven’t recovered and then we’d have to choose between go our own way before we’re ready and end up struggling or having to accept the IMF toughening up and take longer to recover.”
“6.1% for a recovering economy is strong”, encouraged Sumarlin “I think we can do a lot with 6.1%.”
Try nodded.
“In the meantime, Mr. President, you and the nation should enjoy this New Year’s Eve”, said Sumarlin “I think it’s safe to say that the crisis is over.”
---
The Buka Mata Buka Telinga program is based on OTL Habibie's. https://www.google.com/search?biw=1......0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..1.0.0....0.mlY1r-k9qg0
The peatlands program initiated by Soeharto was disaster. It too was stopped by this point in time OTL.
78: Exit
3rd January 2000:
At a full Cabinet Meeting attended by the President, Vice President JB Sumarlin, all ministers, and all the heads of agencies, all in attendance heard Minister of Finance Mar’ie Muhammad outline what is in the Draft Budget to be delivered tomorrow. The President gave his approval.
In a meeting with Minister of Defense and Security Wismoyo Arismunandar, Commander of ABRI Wiranto, Army Chief of Staff Agum Gumelar, Navy Chief of Staff Indroko Sastrowiryono, Air Force Chief of Staff Hanafie Asnan, Chief of Police Luthfi Dahlan, and Deputy Commander of ABRI Johnny Lumintang, the President decided to end martial law in Ambon and ordered that all military matters there be handed over to the Maluku Operational Command. The President also ordered that all joint operations command which has been present in East Timor since the June 1998 Dili Riots to hand over military matters to the East Timor Operational Command.
4th January 2000:
Selected Transcript from the President’s Draft Budget Speech.
“Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh,
Mr. Chairman, Vice Chairmen, and Honorable Members of the DPR,
Today I am delivering this Draft Budget Speech just days before the Day of Victory and during the Month of Victory. But all of us, as part of this nation, have experienced another victory in this most sacred time…
Our factories and businesses are moving and producing again, our youths are at last beginning to find more employment opportunities, and our people once again have faith in our nation’s economy.
There are nations still struggling with the effects of the financial crisis which began in 1997. But speaking on Indonesia’s behalf, I can declare that in Indonesia, this economic crisis is now over.
[Standing Ovation by all the DPR members punctuated by chants of “Try…Try…Try…” by a corner of the DPR members]
And now we look to the future. We may have had a good year last year but it is worth putting things in perspective. Our economy is the 20th largest in the world at the moment. We are ¼ the size of the Chinese economy; around 1/10 the size of the German economy; around 1/20 that of Japan’s and 1/43 that of the United States economy. In other words, there is still work to be done…
The government’s economic growth target for the year 2000 will be 8%. We have set this number as a target not only because we want to return to our pre-crisis growth rates but aso because we want to continue chasing all those nations whose economies are larger than ours…”
Budget Measures:
Revenue:
-80% increase in alcohol excise
-14.5 trillion in the most recent BLBI repayments
-Various off-budget funds including the Presidential Assistance Fund which used to belong to President Soeharto but was handed over by President Try in September 1999. The Presidential Assistance Fund alone is worth $14 million and Rp. 476.371.580.000
Spending:
Projects mentioned under roads, transportation, and energy were previously delayed or put under review under Presidential Decree 39/1997 enacted by Soeharto in September 1997 but will now begin to get underway again. The projects listed are not extensive as before because the focus is placed on accelerating the completion of existing projects, attracting private sector participation
Roads:
*Jati Asih Cikarang Toll Road (West Java)
*Sadang-Subang Toll Road (West Java)
*Ciranjang Padalarang Toll Road (West Java)
*Surabaya-Madura Bridge (East Java)
Transportation:
*Procurement and Installation of Airfield Lighting System and Power Supply
*Procurement and Installation of Airport Security Equipment or 50 Airports
*Tanjung Api-Api Harbour Coal and General Goods Port (South Sumatra)
Energy:
*Drajat Geothermal Electricity Generator (West Java)
*East Palembang Geothermal and Steam Electricity Generator (South Sumatra)
*Musi Steam Electricity Generator (Bengkulu)
Education:
Increase operational assistance to junior high schools as a way to subsidize school fees and encourage enrollment in junior high school. This assistance to apply for both public and Islamic junior high schools.
Health:
Refurbishment of a further 5,000 Auxiliary Community Health Centers and the constructions of second floors for 1,000 Community Health Centers.
Housing:
*Construction of 100,000 Very Simple Houses
*Construction of 200 Apartment Blocks across major Indonesian cities.
Civil Servants:
*100% salary increase overall
*120% salary increase for teachers and doctors
Defense and Security:
*100% salary increase for ABRI members.
*Recruitment of 50,000 Policemen
Strategic Industries:
Begin phase out of subsidies on 1st April 2000 for all 10 strategic industries. Within 3 years government to only subsidize operational costs of the strategic industries.
Regional Autonomy:
The transfer of revenue shares of various natural resources as agreed to the previous May to the Provinces, Regencies, and Municipalities will go ahead as scheduled on 1st April 2000.
5th January 2000:
IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus responded dismissively at the President’s Draft Budget saying that Try was “still picking and choosing” the policies he suggested on his visit to Jakarta in October.
Head of BPS Gunawan Sumodiningrat came out of a meeting with President Try to announce that the National Census will be conducted on 30th June 2000.
6th January 2000:
American Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia and the British Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia took out a page in all of the nation’s major newspapers rejecting Camdessus’ comments as “detrimental” and saying that the Indonesian Government had created a conducive and stable environment with which economic activity could take place. The statement came about after Minister of Trade Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti met with representatives of Amcham and Britcham.
The President meanwhile made an appearance at Gambir Station accompanied by Minister of Transportation Soerjadi Soedirja and CEO of KAI Corporation Anwar Supriyadi, KAI Corporation the state-owned railway company. Try nodded in approval at the size of the crowds about to go back to their hometowns or the eid, which were larger than 1998 and 1999, and Anwar Supriyadi’s efforts at clamping down on ticket scalpers.
He was hunted down by reporters who asked him question about Camdessus’ comments. Try only said that Camdessus will arrive the week after the Eid, he will discuss matters with Camdessus then. Otherwise “I’m not going to let the hard work of the Indonesian people go to waste just to respond to someone picking a fight a with me.”
7th January 2000:
With the nation beginning to slow down at the eve of the Eid and a bang of the gavel, Chairman of DPR Harmoko declared that the Telecommunications Law had been passed. The key provision of the law is that it allows for private sector participants to provide telecommunications services on their own accord instead of being part of partnership with Telkom, Indonesia’s state-owned telecommunications company. It also breaks Telkom’s monopoly with a one year transition period for the company to adjust starting from the day the law is passed.
“Mobile phones have become a popular way to communicate and conduct business. I think there’s nearly 5 million mobile phone users in the end of 1999. We want to facilitate these users as well as other users of other means of telecommunications by allowing service providers to come in and make competitive offerings to the public”, explained Minister of Information, Post, and Telecommunications Oka Mahendra.
9th January 2000:
This being the second day of the Eid, the President and First Lady Tuti Setiawati held an open house at the Presidential Palace. The nation’s political elite gathered to congratulate and wish each other a happyholidays as well as to intrigue.
-Minister of Foreign Affairs Ginandjar Kartasasmita got talking with Treasurer of Golkar Akbar Tandjung. Ginandjar playfully commented that Akbar must be a favorite these days in Tutut’s circle for successfully convincing Sudharmono to accept being put in charge of the Provincial Congresses. Akbar said that he’s just doing “his part” for his team. If it causes dissension in Try’s Pancasila Coalition then that’s all well and good.
-Former Chairman of DPR Wahono chatted with State Secretary Edi Sudrajat. Wahono said he thinks he knows the direction Try and Tutut will take Golkar in though he doesn’t know how it will play out. Wahono tells Edi that Try needs to read Golkar’s Constitution. When asked why, Wahono said that Try will need to know his powers as Chairman of Golkar’s Council of Patrons.
-After the requisite shaking of the hands and photo-op with the President, Chairwoman of Golkar Tutut Soeharto sat down at the corner of the Presidential Palace with Secretary of ICMI Adi Sasono. Tutut told Adi Sasono that ICMI was a strong supporter of Soeharto and that ICMI can play a prominent role again with her. Adi Sasono says that he will think about it.
11th January 2000:
Try took the opportunity to read his copy of the Golkar Constitution. Edi had said at the end of the previous day’s events that Wahono suggested that Try learn what is powers are as the Leader of Golkar when the push comes to shove and Try followed it. The powers themselves could be found in Article 20 of the Golkar Constitution.
Article 20:
The Council of Patrons possesses the following authorities:
(1) Overrule the policies/decisions of the Golkar Central Leadership Council if such policies/decisions are considered to have deviated from the provisions of the organization;
(2) Temporarily suspend the Golkar Leadership Council and its members in situations which are urgent and threatens the livelihood of the organization and;
(3) Call an Extraordinary Congress into session immediately after the utilization of the authority to temporarily suspend the Golkar Leadership Council
13th January 2000:
Tutut and the rest of the Soeharto siblings visited Semarang, Central Java today. After handing out basic commodities to the poor, Tutut sat down to spend some time with her sister Titiek and her husband, Governor of Central Java Prabowo Subianto. They talked about their holidays and then they moved on to more serious matters.
“I want you to take a look at this, Mbak”, said Prabowo handing over a card.
“What is it?” asked Tutut.
“We don’t know, what we do know is that an old man who owns a warung had the honor of hosting a bunch of Try Sutrisno supporters one night. They were rowdy and were talking about how they intended to win the Central Java Golkar Provincial Congress”, explained Prabowo “He said after they had paid and gone, he went to clean up and found this card; and he being one of our supporters, gave this card to us.”
“I can’t say that I recognize the logo”, said Tutut.
“It’s not anything used by any organizations political, social, religious at the moment”, said Prabowo “But it is new, the serial number at the bottom suggests that it is an active organization of some kind that exists within Golkar, and that that it probably associated with the President.”
14th January 2000:
The President met with Chief of BAKIN Ari Sudewo. Friday afternoons was routinely dedicated to an intelligence briefing. Usually the topics covered are happenings from the week just finished as well as predictions of what was to come.
There was something about this briefing which caused Try to pay attention. Ari reported that he’s received intelligence that in Kuala Lumpur from 5th-8th January, there was a meeting in a hotel room in that city attended by people with links to Al Qaeda. According to Ari, “it is very likely” that these people are there in Kuala Lumpur to talk about future attacks though it is not yet know where these future attacks will be. Ari further reported that the meeting was organized by Riduan Isamuddin aka Hambali, an Indonesian with links to Abu Bakar Bashir.
Try ordered Ari to “keep an eye on developments”.
17th January 2000:
The President and Sumarlin had breakfast together. Sumarlin came out of the meeting saying that the two talked about strategy in the upcoming talks with Camdessus.
The President met with Minister of Industry Siswono Yudohusodo, Minister of Agriculture Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, Minister of Mining and Energy Djiteng Marsudi Minister of Public Works Rachmat Witoelar, and Minister of Transportation Soerjadi Soedirja. He told them to prioritize projects in their departments that are already underway, to direct funds for their completion, and to attract private investment for future projects.
Tutut instructs Golkar Secretary ZA Maulani to investigate the card which she had received from Prabowo over the holidays.
18th January 2000:
Try met former Vice President Sudharmono who came in his role as Chairman of the Holding and Overseeing of Golkar Provincial Congresses. Sudharmono told the President that the first provincial congress will start in 3 days’ time in Jakarta. Try accepted the news though there was something more serious he would like to talk about.
“I thought we had an understanding with each other”, said Try “I can’t tell you how disappointed I am that you’ve taken on this appointment and have made no effort to reject it or walk away from it. The others in the coalition are questioning your motives.”
Sudharmono countered that he bears Try no ill will and that he thanked Try for the trust that had been given to “Ginandjar and the others”. He argued that he wanted to show that there was no contradiction between being pro-Try and pro-Tutut. That was why he reconciled Try with Tutut and that was why he accepted his present appointment at Golkar.
19th January 2000:
The President accompanied by Oka Mahendra and Chairman of ICMI BJ Habbie attended the launching of Republika TV. The highlight of the night was an interview talkshow hosted by the CEO of Republika TV where he interviewed both the Try and Habibie. The two joked about the fact that they had contested for the presidency at the 1998 MPR General Session two years prior and that they had put it all behind them.
20th January 2000:
Try was accompanied by Sumarlin, Minister of Economics and National Development Soedradjad Djiwandono, Minister of Finance Mar’ie Muhammad, and Edi Sudrajat as he welcomed Michel Camdessus, IMF Asia-Pacific Director Hubert Neiss, and their delegation to the Presidential Palace.
Try began explaining about recent economic developments most notably the fact that they’ve reached 6.1% economic growth and the Draft Budget. Camdessus did not look impressed. Try talked about some Camdessus’ prescriptions that he adhered to and still Camdessus was not impressed.
“You’re still picking and choosing what you want to implement”, Camdessus argued.
Camdessus went through some of the things he’d proposed during his last visit in October. He told Try that funding to the National Aeroplane Industry (IPTN) should be ceased immediately and that it was not enough to simply “begin phasing it out”. Try said that stopping all funding to the IPTN and other strategic industries would leave thousands of engineers unemployed.
Loosening requirements for foreign bank branches was next. Try said that he wasn’t going to allow that because the domestic banks are still recovering and wouldn’t be able to compete with foreign banks.
“Mr. President, I don’t think you understand”, said Camdessus “It was the Indonesian government that has asked for the IMF’s assistance in 1997 and as is the usual way with the IMF, we prescribe the policies that you need to adhere to in order for the economy to recover…”
All in the room held their breath as Camdessus launched into a lecture about the IMF’s role and how Indonesia was causing other nations to lose its respect to the IMF.
Try began to zone out. The nation’s economy now had recovered. It wasn’t yet at full power, but it could rightly be said to have recovered. Businesses were more confident in investing and employing while individuals and families more confident in purchasing and consuming. The days of monitoring the Rupiah’s exchange rate on a daily or even hourly basis was long gone.
Sumarlin had done the calculations, that was the topic of the strategy meeting a few days ago. If the economic growth was 5%, Indonesia still needed some IMF’s help. At 7%, it has fully recovered and no longer needed the IMF’s help.
“At 6.1%, it’s our choice. If we choose to remain with the IMF it’s because we want to play it safe. If not, that’s because we’re confident in our own prospects”, Sumarlin had said then.
For Try, something was clear. When he heard that 1999’s economic growth was going to be 6.1%, he knew things had changed. Before he knew the economic growth for 1999, Try saw Indonesia was asking for leniency from the IMF and the international community so that it could reach the point of recovery which was now so close.
Now things were different. Indonesia has recovered but is now being berated because the manner of its recovery is not exactly to what the IMF had envisioned.
Try held his hand up. Camdessus continued speaking until Neiss tapped him on his shoulder.
“I think we’ve reached a point where whatever I’m going to say isn’t going to be acceptable for you and what you’re proposing is not acceptable to us, Mr. Camdessus”, said Try.
“Then what would you like to propose, Mr. President?” asked Camdessus.
The goal was always clear for Try regarding the IMF. It was just a matter of timing and now, with the economy strong enough and Camdessus clearly being hostile, the timing is clear.
“I’d like to request Indonesia’s immediate exit from its current program with the IMF”, replied Try calmly.
---
On the Presidential Assistance Fund (In Indonesian):
https://nasional.tempo.co/read/13467/bambang-sutanto-sangkal-ada-penyelewengan-dana-banpres
On Indonesia’s GDP being 1/43 that of the US, I got from:
http://en.classora.com/reports/t24369/ranking-of-the-worlds-richest-countries-by-gdp?edition=1997
Meeting of Al Qaeda guys in Kuala Lumpur:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuala_Lumpur_al-Qaeda_Summit
Try's authority as Chairman of the Council of Patrons (In Indonesian):
https://books.google.co.id/books?id...AG#v=onepage&q=wewenang dewan pembina&f=false
At a full Cabinet Meeting attended by the President, Vice President JB Sumarlin, all ministers, and all the heads of agencies, all in attendance heard Minister of Finance Mar’ie Muhammad outline what is in the Draft Budget to be delivered tomorrow. The President gave his approval.
In a meeting with Minister of Defense and Security Wismoyo Arismunandar, Commander of ABRI Wiranto, Army Chief of Staff Agum Gumelar, Navy Chief of Staff Indroko Sastrowiryono, Air Force Chief of Staff Hanafie Asnan, Chief of Police Luthfi Dahlan, and Deputy Commander of ABRI Johnny Lumintang, the President decided to end martial law in Ambon and ordered that all military matters there be handed over to the Maluku Operational Command. The President also ordered that all joint operations command which has been present in East Timor since the June 1998 Dili Riots to hand over military matters to the East Timor Operational Command.
4th January 2000:
Selected Transcript from the President’s Draft Budget Speech.
“Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh,
Mr. Chairman, Vice Chairmen, and Honorable Members of the DPR,
Today I am delivering this Draft Budget Speech just days before the Day of Victory and during the Month of Victory. But all of us, as part of this nation, have experienced another victory in this most sacred time…
Our factories and businesses are moving and producing again, our youths are at last beginning to find more employment opportunities, and our people once again have faith in our nation’s economy.
There are nations still struggling with the effects of the financial crisis which began in 1997. But speaking on Indonesia’s behalf, I can declare that in Indonesia, this economic crisis is now over.
[Standing Ovation by all the DPR members punctuated by chants of “Try…Try…Try…” by a corner of the DPR members]
And now we look to the future. We may have had a good year last year but it is worth putting things in perspective. Our economy is the 20th largest in the world at the moment. We are ¼ the size of the Chinese economy; around 1/10 the size of the German economy; around 1/20 that of Japan’s and 1/43 that of the United States economy. In other words, there is still work to be done…
The government’s economic growth target for the year 2000 will be 8%. We have set this number as a target not only because we want to return to our pre-crisis growth rates but aso because we want to continue chasing all those nations whose economies are larger than ours…”
Budget Measures:
Revenue:
-80% increase in alcohol excise
-14.5 trillion in the most recent BLBI repayments
-Various off-budget funds including the Presidential Assistance Fund which used to belong to President Soeharto but was handed over by President Try in September 1999. The Presidential Assistance Fund alone is worth $14 million and Rp. 476.371.580.000
Spending:
Projects mentioned under roads, transportation, and energy were previously delayed or put under review under Presidential Decree 39/1997 enacted by Soeharto in September 1997 but will now begin to get underway again. The projects listed are not extensive as before because the focus is placed on accelerating the completion of existing projects, attracting private sector participation
Roads:
*Jati Asih Cikarang Toll Road (West Java)
*Sadang-Subang Toll Road (West Java)
*Ciranjang Padalarang Toll Road (West Java)
*Surabaya-Madura Bridge (East Java)
Transportation:
*Procurement and Installation of Airfield Lighting System and Power Supply
*Procurement and Installation of Airport Security Equipment or 50 Airports
*Tanjung Api-Api Harbour Coal and General Goods Port (South Sumatra)
Energy:
*Drajat Geothermal Electricity Generator (West Java)
*East Palembang Geothermal and Steam Electricity Generator (South Sumatra)
*Musi Steam Electricity Generator (Bengkulu)
Education:
Increase operational assistance to junior high schools as a way to subsidize school fees and encourage enrollment in junior high school. This assistance to apply for both public and Islamic junior high schools.
Health:
Refurbishment of a further 5,000 Auxiliary Community Health Centers and the constructions of second floors for 1,000 Community Health Centers.
Housing:
*Construction of 100,000 Very Simple Houses
*Construction of 200 Apartment Blocks across major Indonesian cities.
Civil Servants:
*100% salary increase overall
*120% salary increase for teachers and doctors
Defense and Security:
*100% salary increase for ABRI members.
*Recruitment of 50,000 Policemen
Strategic Industries:
Begin phase out of subsidies on 1st April 2000 for all 10 strategic industries. Within 3 years government to only subsidize operational costs of the strategic industries.
Regional Autonomy:
The transfer of revenue shares of various natural resources as agreed to the previous May to the Provinces, Regencies, and Municipalities will go ahead as scheduled on 1st April 2000.
5th January 2000:
IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus responded dismissively at the President’s Draft Budget saying that Try was “still picking and choosing” the policies he suggested on his visit to Jakarta in October.
Head of BPS Gunawan Sumodiningrat came out of a meeting with President Try to announce that the National Census will be conducted on 30th June 2000.
6th January 2000:
American Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia and the British Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia took out a page in all of the nation’s major newspapers rejecting Camdessus’ comments as “detrimental” and saying that the Indonesian Government had created a conducive and stable environment with which economic activity could take place. The statement came about after Minister of Trade Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti met with representatives of Amcham and Britcham.
The President meanwhile made an appearance at Gambir Station accompanied by Minister of Transportation Soerjadi Soedirja and CEO of KAI Corporation Anwar Supriyadi, KAI Corporation the state-owned railway company. Try nodded in approval at the size of the crowds about to go back to their hometowns or the eid, which were larger than 1998 and 1999, and Anwar Supriyadi’s efforts at clamping down on ticket scalpers.
He was hunted down by reporters who asked him question about Camdessus’ comments. Try only said that Camdessus will arrive the week after the Eid, he will discuss matters with Camdessus then. Otherwise “I’m not going to let the hard work of the Indonesian people go to waste just to respond to someone picking a fight a with me.”
7th January 2000:
With the nation beginning to slow down at the eve of the Eid and a bang of the gavel, Chairman of DPR Harmoko declared that the Telecommunications Law had been passed. The key provision of the law is that it allows for private sector participants to provide telecommunications services on their own accord instead of being part of partnership with Telkom, Indonesia’s state-owned telecommunications company. It also breaks Telkom’s monopoly with a one year transition period for the company to adjust starting from the day the law is passed.
“Mobile phones have become a popular way to communicate and conduct business. I think there’s nearly 5 million mobile phone users in the end of 1999. We want to facilitate these users as well as other users of other means of telecommunications by allowing service providers to come in and make competitive offerings to the public”, explained Minister of Information, Post, and Telecommunications Oka Mahendra.
9th January 2000:
This being the second day of the Eid, the President and First Lady Tuti Setiawati held an open house at the Presidential Palace. The nation’s political elite gathered to congratulate and wish each other a happyholidays as well as to intrigue.
-Minister of Foreign Affairs Ginandjar Kartasasmita got talking with Treasurer of Golkar Akbar Tandjung. Ginandjar playfully commented that Akbar must be a favorite these days in Tutut’s circle for successfully convincing Sudharmono to accept being put in charge of the Provincial Congresses. Akbar said that he’s just doing “his part” for his team. If it causes dissension in Try’s Pancasila Coalition then that’s all well and good.
-Former Chairman of DPR Wahono chatted with State Secretary Edi Sudrajat. Wahono said he thinks he knows the direction Try and Tutut will take Golkar in though he doesn’t know how it will play out. Wahono tells Edi that Try needs to read Golkar’s Constitution. When asked why, Wahono said that Try will need to know his powers as Chairman of Golkar’s Council of Patrons.
-After the requisite shaking of the hands and photo-op with the President, Chairwoman of Golkar Tutut Soeharto sat down at the corner of the Presidential Palace with Secretary of ICMI Adi Sasono. Tutut told Adi Sasono that ICMI was a strong supporter of Soeharto and that ICMI can play a prominent role again with her. Adi Sasono says that he will think about it.
11th January 2000:
Try took the opportunity to read his copy of the Golkar Constitution. Edi had said at the end of the previous day’s events that Wahono suggested that Try learn what is powers are as the Leader of Golkar when the push comes to shove and Try followed it. The powers themselves could be found in Article 20 of the Golkar Constitution.
Article 20:
The Council of Patrons possesses the following authorities:
(1) Overrule the policies/decisions of the Golkar Central Leadership Council if such policies/decisions are considered to have deviated from the provisions of the organization;
(2) Temporarily suspend the Golkar Leadership Council and its members in situations which are urgent and threatens the livelihood of the organization and;
(3) Call an Extraordinary Congress into session immediately after the utilization of the authority to temporarily suspend the Golkar Leadership Council
13th January 2000:
Tutut and the rest of the Soeharto siblings visited Semarang, Central Java today. After handing out basic commodities to the poor, Tutut sat down to spend some time with her sister Titiek and her husband, Governor of Central Java Prabowo Subianto. They talked about their holidays and then they moved on to more serious matters.
“I want you to take a look at this, Mbak”, said Prabowo handing over a card.
“What is it?” asked Tutut.
“We don’t know, what we do know is that an old man who owns a warung had the honor of hosting a bunch of Try Sutrisno supporters one night. They were rowdy and were talking about how they intended to win the Central Java Golkar Provincial Congress”, explained Prabowo “He said after they had paid and gone, he went to clean up and found this card; and he being one of our supporters, gave this card to us.”
“I can’t say that I recognize the logo”, said Tutut.
“It’s not anything used by any organizations political, social, religious at the moment”, said Prabowo “But it is new, the serial number at the bottom suggests that it is an active organization of some kind that exists within Golkar, and that that it probably associated with the President.”
14th January 2000:
The President met with Chief of BAKIN Ari Sudewo. Friday afternoons was routinely dedicated to an intelligence briefing. Usually the topics covered are happenings from the week just finished as well as predictions of what was to come.
There was something about this briefing which caused Try to pay attention. Ari reported that he’s received intelligence that in Kuala Lumpur from 5th-8th January, there was a meeting in a hotel room in that city attended by people with links to Al Qaeda. According to Ari, “it is very likely” that these people are there in Kuala Lumpur to talk about future attacks though it is not yet know where these future attacks will be. Ari further reported that the meeting was organized by Riduan Isamuddin aka Hambali, an Indonesian with links to Abu Bakar Bashir.
Try ordered Ari to “keep an eye on developments”.
17th January 2000:
The President and Sumarlin had breakfast together. Sumarlin came out of the meeting saying that the two talked about strategy in the upcoming talks with Camdessus.
The President met with Minister of Industry Siswono Yudohusodo, Minister of Agriculture Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, Minister of Mining and Energy Djiteng Marsudi Minister of Public Works Rachmat Witoelar, and Minister of Transportation Soerjadi Soedirja. He told them to prioritize projects in their departments that are already underway, to direct funds for their completion, and to attract private investment for future projects.
Tutut instructs Golkar Secretary ZA Maulani to investigate the card which she had received from Prabowo over the holidays.
18th January 2000:
Try met former Vice President Sudharmono who came in his role as Chairman of the Holding and Overseeing of Golkar Provincial Congresses. Sudharmono told the President that the first provincial congress will start in 3 days’ time in Jakarta. Try accepted the news though there was something more serious he would like to talk about.
“I thought we had an understanding with each other”, said Try “I can’t tell you how disappointed I am that you’ve taken on this appointment and have made no effort to reject it or walk away from it. The others in the coalition are questioning your motives.”
Sudharmono countered that he bears Try no ill will and that he thanked Try for the trust that had been given to “Ginandjar and the others”. He argued that he wanted to show that there was no contradiction between being pro-Try and pro-Tutut. That was why he reconciled Try with Tutut and that was why he accepted his present appointment at Golkar.
19th January 2000:
The President accompanied by Oka Mahendra and Chairman of ICMI BJ Habbie attended the launching of Republika TV. The highlight of the night was an interview talkshow hosted by the CEO of Republika TV where he interviewed both the Try and Habibie. The two joked about the fact that they had contested for the presidency at the 1998 MPR General Session two years prior and that they had put it all behind them.
20th January 2000:
Try was accompanied by Sumarlin, Minister of Economics and National Development Soedradjad Djiwandono, Minister of Finance Mar’ie Muhammad, and Edi Sudrajat as he welcomed Michel Camdessus, IMF Asia-Pacific Director Hubert Neiss, and their delegation to the Presidential Palace.
Try began explaining about recent economic developments most notably the fact that they’ve reached 6.1% economic growth and the Draft Budget. Camdessus did not look impressed. Try talked about some Camdessus’ prescriptions that he adhered to and still Camdessus was not impressed.
“You’re still picking and choosing what you want to implement”, Camdessus argued.
Camdessus went through some of the things he’d proposed during his last visit in October. He told Try that funding to the National Aeroplane Industry (IPTN) should be ceased immediately and that it was not enough to simply “begin phasing it out”. Try said that stopping all funding to the IPTN and other strategic industries would leave thousands of engineers unemployed.
Loosening requirements for foreign bank branches was next. Try said that he wasn’t going to allow that because the domestic banks are still recovering and wouldn’t be able to compete with foreign banks.
“Mr. President, I don’t think you understand”, said Camdessus “It was the Indonesian government that has asked for the IMF’s assistance in 1997 and as is the usual way with the IMF, we prescribe the policies that you need to adhere to in order for the economy to recover…”
All in the room held their breath as Camdessus launched into a lecture about the IMF’s role and how Indonesia was causing other nations to lose its respect to the IMF.
Try began to zone out. The nation’s economy now had recovered. It wasn’t yet at full power, but it could rightly be said to have recovered. Businesses were more confident in investing and employing while individuals and families more confident in purchasing and consuming. The days of monitoring the Rupiah’s exchange rate on a daily or even hourly basis was long gone.
Sumarlin had done the calculations, that was the topic of the strategy meeting a few days ago. If the economic growth was 5%, Indonesia still needed some IMF’s help. At 7%, it has fully recovered and no longer needed the IMF’s help.
“At 6.1%, it’s our choice. If we choose to remain with the IMF it’s because we want to play it safe. If not, that’s because we’re confident in our own prospects”, Sumarlin had said then.
For Try, something was clear. When he heard that 1999’s economic growth was going to be 6.1%, he knew things had changed. Before he knew the economic growth for 1999, Try saw Indonesia was asking for leniency from the IMF and the international community so that it could reach the point of recovery which was now so close.
Now things were different. Indonesia has recovered but is now being berated because the manner of its recovery is not exactly to what the IMF had envisioned.
Try held his hand up. Camdessus continued speaking until Neiss tapped him on his shoulder.
“I think we’ve reached a point where whatever I’m going to say isn’t going to be acceptable for you and what you’re proposing is not acceptable to us, Mr. Camdessus”, said Try.
“Then what would you like to propose, Mr. President?” asked Camdessus.
The goal was always clear for Try regarding the IMF. It was just a matter of timing and now, with the economy strong enough and Camdessus clearly being hostile, the timing is clear.
“I’d like to request Indonesia’s immediate exit from its current program with the IMF”, replied Try calmly.
---
On the Presidential Assistance Fund (In Indonesian):
https://nasional.tempo.co/read/13467/bambang-sutanto-sangkal-ada-penyelewengan-dana-banpres
On Indonesia’s GDP being 1/43 that of the US, I got from:
http://en.classora.com/reports/t24369/ranking-of-the-worlds-richest-countries-by-gdp?edition=1997
Meeting of Al Qaeda guys in Kuala Lumpur:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuala_Lumpur_al-Qaeda_Summit
Try's authority as Chairman of the Council of Patrons (In Indonesian):
https://books.google.co.id/books?id...AG#v=onepage&q=wewenang dewan pembina&f=false
Like a boss. Even the Americans and British are distancing themselves from Camdessus lmao. Straight up ordering to cause large scale strategic unemployment even after the country is able to support them like that, what was he thinking? Also great logo, did you make it yourself?
Meanwhile after this declaration Try would now have time to focus on politics, and he should leverage it as much as possible. If it's direct democracy he would have no problem getting elected again as people should be firmly behind his back but with the current voting system he still have work to do.
Meanwhile after this declaration Try would now have time to focus on politics, and he should leverage it as much as possible. If it's direct democracy he would have no problem getting elected again as people should be firmly behind his back but with the current voting system he still have work to do.
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I wish the logo was my design but actually it's from OTL.
Regarding direct democracy, we'll see. There'll be some political reforms for sure but I don't know about direct democracy yet. I'm feeling around for a gap but the urgency for the wideranging political reforms that was in OTL is not there in this May 1998-less world.
Regarding Try's re-election prospects, oh don't worry people who aren't happy with him will start appearing.
All in due course...
I can say that the government’s better served with Soedjono Atmonegoro as attorney general. OTL Soedjono was dismissed 5 hours after reporting to Habibie that there’s a case for taking Soeharto to court. ITTL he managed to take Tommy Soeharto to court so its definitely an improvement over his OTL path.
79: Moving On
21st January 2000:
Vice President JB Sumarlin watched IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus depart from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport on the television screen. He had not expected the President to ask for an exit from the IMF’s program.
Camdessus pushed back and hard. At the day’s breakfast, he asked that Indonesia to repay all that it owed the IMF within a year. Indonesia didn’t need the IMF but it still needed to repay what it owed. Minister of Finance Mar’ie Muhammad later calculated that Indonesia had to pay all that it owed to the IMF in a year significant funds would have to be diverted from other programs which meant lower levels of economic growth. Negotiations between Camdessus’ and Sumarlin’s team ended on that note.
“My resignation takes effect on 9th February 2000”, Camdessus reminded as he left “If a deal is not reached by then, I will use my last act to cease all assistance to Indonesia at that time.”
23rd January 2000:
At the Golkar Jakarta Provincial Congress, incumbent Provincial Chairman and Try supporter Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Tadjus Sobirin overcomes Tutut candidate Bambang Atmanto Wiyogo SE., the latter being the son of former Governor of Jakarta Wiyogo Atmodarminto.
President Try Sutrisno watched this on the television screen though he had set it on mute because he had been making phone calls all day. State Secretary Edi Sudrajat were in the room with him.
“Well at least Schroder and Obuchi agree on something”, said Try “They tell me not to feel bound by Camdessus’ deadline because decisions can be amended later when someone else is IMF Managing Director.”
“Yeah, that’s because they want to tie us in and vote for their preferred candidate for IMF Managing Director, right?” asked Edi.
“Not going to happen, we’ll have to reach a deal before then”, said Try “You better pray that I can get something when I meet with Clinton at the World Economic Forum.”
24th January 2000:
Chairman of BP-7 Soegiarto was speaking at a P4 Training Session at the Lemhanas. He said that since he was speaking at an organization that dealt with strategic issues, he should speak about the ideological challenge at hand in Indonesia.
“We operate on the basis that Pancasila is at the political center and that the ideological threat comes from the extreme left and the extreme right. The extreme left had been crushed though we are always vigilant for a comeback.
It is now the threat of the extreme right that we have to be mindful for. Those who would like to impose a government based on religious law. I would say this is a more difficult challenge to take on because Indonesians are religious people and those on the extreme right prey on this religious nature.”
The speech was played live on TVRI that afternoon.
25th January 2000:
In a press conference, Minister of Education Wardiman Djojonegoro announced that the President had approved of some amendments to the present curriculum in primary and secondary education. The amendments to the curriculum are among others:
-Switching from 3 four-month terms to two semesters lasting six months each and thus allowing teachers more time to convey the material to students and for students to be less stressed due having more time to study the material.
-Cutting down on the “doubling up” of material across subjects in the curriculum for the sake of efficiency.
-Decrease school hours. As an example, primary school students will have their school hours reduced from 1,428 hours to 1,150. (“China’s on 1,124 hours, South Korea 1,156, and Japan 1,050 so we’re doing something wrong because our school hours are the most but we’re not as good as they are”)
-Shift more complex materials to later in the curriculum or advanced stages.
-Decrease amount of homework for 4th-12th grades. Decrease it to minimal levels for 1st-3rd grade.
-Changes to take effect in the next educational year.
DPR Member Hartono received the arrival of a delegation led by Hidayat Nur Wahid and Nurmahmudi Ismail. The latter expressed their offense to the statement made by Soegiarto the previous day saying that it was un-Islamic.
26th January 2000:
In a press conference, Edi Sudrajat accompanied by Minister of Home Affairs Harsudiono Hartas announced that the President had formed a team comprising of the following:
*Minister of Home Affairs Harsudiono Hartas
*Cabinet Secretary Hayono Isman
*Head of LIPI Taufik Abdullah
*Chief of ABRI Social-Political Affairs Staff Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
*Vice Chairman of the MPR Poedjono Pranyoto
*Drs. Arbi Sanit of the Univesity of Indonesia Faculty of Social and Political Sciences
*Ryaas Rasyid Expert Staff to the Minister of Home Affairs
This team will have two months to work on three bills: The Draft Election Bill, the Draft Composition and Status of the MPR, DPR, and DPRD Bill, and the Draft Political Parties and Golkar Bill.
Chairwoman of Golkar Tutut Soeharto said that she regrets Soegiarto’s statement. She said that she believes, as does her father, that Pancasila and Islam does not need to be seen as contradictory.
27th January 2000:
The President met with Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Tanto Kuswanto. Tanto reported that his department had captured 46 Thailand fishing vessels of the coast of Aceh in November. The fishermen have been deported back to Thailand and the fishing vessels have been handed to the Provincial Government of Aceh as of last week. The President approved and said that marine sovereignty has to be approved against all.
The President had a meeting with Soegiarto at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport just before he was due to depart for Switzerland. He asked Soegiarto about his speech three days ago. Soegiarto maintains that he made it because the Lemhanas setting made it appropriate to talk about such “large big picture” issues.
“We have to stop them, Mr. President and sooner rather than later”, said Soegiarto “If Turkey, which has secularism as one of its principles, has political parties which tries to destroy that secularism and establish Islamist rule, we which explicitly belief in One Almighty God have to be even more careful.”
28th January 2000:
After a night flight, Try and his delegation arrived at Zurich, Switzerland. From there they flew by helicopter to Davos and the World Economic Forum (WEF).
After inspecting a BKPM stand with Head of BKPM Mari Elka Pangestu, Try met with President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki who said that he was committed to closer economic ties between South Africa and Indonesia. Try thanked Thabo for his support for trying convince Namibia to vote in favor of accepting the Singapore Settlement the previous year.
Try’s session at the WEF came after lunch when he addressed a room full of businessmen about how Indonesia had recovered from the Asian Financial Crisis. Afterwards he was interviewed by WEF Founder Klaus Schwab about how achieved this feat.
“I think we kept a sense of balance”, said Try “We spent a lot of money but made sure that we didn’t go into budget deficit. We went after sectors that needed to be deregulated but didn’t liberalize things for the sake of it. I mean recently the government stopped controlling the price of cement but in agriculture, we still tightly control the import of rice.”
“I don’t want to be provocative but there are certain institutions that say you are departing a little too much from the path they want you to take”, began Klaus.
“Well, we weren’t able to fix school roofs and pot holes in roads because we listened too much to a certain institution. A few weeks before I took office, there was a bank rush. That too was because we listened too much”, said Try.
29th January 2000:
The organizers were kind enough set a boardroom up for the meeting after President Bill Clinton of the United States had made his speech to the WEF. Try was accompanied by Edi, Ginandjar Kartasasmita, and Minister of Economics and National Development Planning Soedradjad Djiwandono. Clinton by Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers, White House Chief of Staff John Podesta, and Undersecretary of Treasury for International Affairs Tim Geithner.
Clinton warmly congratulated Indonesia on its economic recovery but says that Indonesia needs to have more respect for the IMF. Try countered that he has always respected the IMF, the question is does the IMF have respect for the situation in Indonesia. Clinton said that he understood it having had the situation explained to him by the prime ministers of Singapore and Japan among others.
Summers spoke next saying that “this conversation shouldn’t even happen” because Indonesia’s exit from the IMF is a matter between Indonesia and the IMF. Summers said that Indonesia should accept the IMF’s terms for exit. Soedradjad said that that’s impossible because it means diverting significant amounts of money which could lessen Indonesia’s economic growth for the year. Summers said if that’s the consequence, “so be it”. Soedradjad said that Indonesia will need 4 years to repay the debt it owed the IMF to which Summers snorted.
The room became heated as Ginandjar sarcastically asked if Indonesia had to be as close as Brazil before the US Treasury would give it some leniency. Try and Clinton calmed their delegations down. The meeting ended in a deadlock.
That night as Try went through the paperwork in his suite, Edi interrupted with news that Podesta was waiting outside. Once inside, Podesta told Try that Clinton had consulted widely and had an offer: Indonesia’s immediate exit from the IMF Program and 3 years to repay whatever Indonesia owed the IMF in exchange for Indonesia refraining from showing open support and/or mobilizing support for any of the IMF Managing Director candidates. Try and Edi asked for some time to huddle.
After huddling with Ginandjar, Soedradjad, Edi, and even placing a call to Sumarlin back in Jakarta, Try emerged from the room to tell Podesta to accept the deal.
30th January 2000:
In the morning news came that Camdessus had accepted the terms set out by Clinton. Try delegated to Soedradjad to sign the agreement on behalf of Indonesia.
Edi and Ginandjar got the task of announcing the agreement to the Indonesian press corps who had come for the trip. When asked if the United States had imposed its will as regards to Indonesia’s having to abstain on the IMF Managing Director’s vote, Ginandjar argued that it was a mutual decision and that “actually, the United States recognized Indonesia’s potential to influence and mobilize, otherwise it would not have sought to keep Indonesia as far away from the vote of the IMF Managing Director’s vote”.
Try was more circumspect. After a courtesy visit to President of Switzerland Adolf Ogi, he boarded his Presidential Airplane homeward bound for Jakarta. He had a press conference from his seat.
“We’ve put the economic crisis behind us and now, we’ve put the IMF behind us”, Try said “This will give us as a nation the ability to move on to other things.”
---
Just as a comparison with OTL: Indonesia exited the IMF Program in December 2003 and repaid all its debts in December 2006.
In OTL, BP-7 was an agency responsible for disseminating Indonesia's national ideology of Pancasila through P4 training courses lasting up to a combined 120 hours. For many people in society it was an ordeal that they had to go through (My Mum: It was boring as heck but it's good to have on your CV that you've done P4 training). For critics of Soeharto's regime, the BP-7 was criticized as ideological indoctrination and during Habibie's presidency, the BP7 was abolished. The consequence of the abolition of BP7 was an ideological vacuum which one could argue has been filled by Islam and people being more openly devout in Indonesia. In the present day, the acknowledgement that there has been ideological neglect in the country takes the form of the Pancasila Ideological Fostering Agency (BPIP) which was formed by current President Jokowi in 2017.
So we've got some interesting dynamics going on here. You've got the guys that would go on to become PKS and the PBB running around ITTL with the same goals that they have OTL but at the same time there's this ideological agency as well.
Vice President JB Sumarlin watched IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus depart from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport on the television screen. He had not expected the President to ask for an exit from the IMF’s program.
Camdessus pushed back and hard. At the day’s breakfast, he asked that Indonesia to repay all that it owed the IMF within a year. Indonesia didn’t need the IMF but it still needed to repay what it owed. Minister of Finance Mar’ie Muhammad later calculated that Indonesia had to pay all that it owed to the IMF in a year significant funds would have to be diverted from other programs which meant lower levels of economic growth. Negotiations between Camdessus’ and Sumarlin’s team ended on that note.
“My resignation takes effect on 9th February 2000”, Camdessus reminded as he left “If a deal is not reached by then, I will use my last act to cease all assistance to Indonesia at that time.”
23rd January 2000:
At the Golkar Jakarta Provincial Congress, incumbent Provincial Chairman and Try supporter Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Tadjus Sobirin overcomes Tutut candidate Bambang Atmanto Wiyogo SE., the latter being the son of former Governor of Jakarta Wiyogo Atmodarminto.
President Try Sutrisno watched this on the television screen though he had set it on mute because he had been making phone calls all day. State Secretary Edi Sudrajat were in the room with him.
“Well at least Schroder and Obuchi agree on something”, said Try “They tell me not to feel bound by Camdessus’ deadline because decisions can be amended later when someone else is IMF Managing Director.”
“Yeah, that’s because they want to tie us in and vote for their preferred candidate for IMF Managing Director, right?” asked Edi.
“Not going to happen, we’ll have to reach a deal before then”, said Try “You better pray that I can get something when I meet with Clinton at the World Economic Forum.”
24th January 2000:
Chairman of BP-7 Soegiarto was speaking at a P4 Training Session at the Lemhanas. He said that since he was speaking at an organization that dealt with strategic issues, he should speak about the ideological challenge at hand in Indonesia.
“We operate on the basis that Pancasila is at the political center and that the ideological threat comes from the extreme left and the extreme right. The extreme left had been crushed though we are always vigilant for a comeback.
It is now the threat of the extreme right that we have to be mindful for. Those who would like to impose a government based on religious law. I would say this is a more difficult challenge to take on because Indonesians are religious people and those on the extreme right prey on this religious nature.”
The speech was played live on TVRI that afternoon.
25th January 2000:
In a press conference, Minister of Education Wardiman Djojonegoro announced that the President had approved of some amendments to the present curriculum in primary and secondary education. The amendments to the curriculum are among others:
-Switching from 3 four-month terms to two semesters lasting six months each and thus allowing teachers more time to convey the material to students and for students to be less stressed due having more time to study the material.
-Cutting down on the “doubling up” of material across subjects in the curriculum for the sake of efficiency.
-Decrease school hours. As an example, primary school students will have their school hours reduced from 1,428 hours to 1,150. (“China’s on 1,124 hours, South Korea 1,156, and Japan 1,050 so we’re doing something wrong because our school hours are the most but we’re not as good as they are”)
-Shift more complex materials to later in the curriculum or advanced stages.
-Decrease amount of homework for 4th-12th grades. Decrease it to minimal levels for 1st-3rd grade.
-Changes to take effect in the next educational year.
DPR Member Hartono received the arrival of a delegation led by Hidayat Nur Wahid and Nurmahmudi Ismail. The latter expressed their offense to the statement made by Soegiarto the previous day saying that it was un-Islamic.
26th January 2000:
In a press conference, Edi Sudrajat accompanied by Minister of Home Affairs Harsudiono Hartas announced that the President had formed a team comprising of the following:
*Minister of Home Affairs Harsudiono Hartas
*Cabinet Secretary Hayono Isman
*Head of LIPI Taufik Abdullah
*Chief of ABRI Social-Political Affairs Staff Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
*Vice Chairman of the MPR Poedjono Pranyoto
*Drs. Arbi Sanit of the Univesity of Indonesia Faculty of Social and Political Sciences
*Ryaas Rasyid Expert Staff to the Minister of Home Affairs
This team will have two months to work on three bills: The Draft Election Bill, the Draft Composition and Status of the MPR, DPR, and DPRD Bill, and the Draft Political Parties and Golkar Bill.
Chairwoman of Golkar Tutut Soeharto said that she regrets Soegiarto’s statement. She said that she believes, as does her father, that Pancasila and Islam does not need to be seen as contradictory.
27th January 2000:
The President met with Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Tanto Kuswanto. Tanto reported that his department had captured 46 Thailand fishing vessels of the coast of Aceh in November. The fishermen have been deported back to Thailand and the fishing vessels have been handed to the Provincial Government of Aceh as of last week. The President approved and said that marine sovereignty has to be approved against all.
The President had a meeting with Soegiarto at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport just before he was due to depart for Switzerland. He asked Soegiarto about his speech three days ago. Soegiarto maintains that he made it because the Lemhanas setting made it appropriate to talk about such “large big picture” issues.
“We have to stop them, Mr. President and sooner rather than later”, said Soegiarto “If Turkey, which has secularism as one of its principles, has political parties which tries to destroy that secularism and establish Islamist rule, we which explicitly belief in One Almighty God have to be even more careful.”
28th January 2000:
After a night flight, Try and his delegation arrived at Zurich, Switzerland. From there they flew by helicopter to Davos and the World Economic Forum (WEF).
After inspecting a BKPM stand with Head of BKPM Mari Elka Pangestu, Try met with President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki who said that he was committed to closer economic ties between South Africa and Indonesia. Try thanked Thabo for his support for trying convince Namibia to vote in favor of accepting the Singapore Settlement the previous year.
Try’s session at the WEF came after lunch when he addressed a room full of businessmen about how Indonesia had recovered from the Asian Financial Crisis. Afterwards he was interviewed by WEF Founder Klaus Schwab about how achieved this feat.
“I think we kept a sense of balance”, said Try “We spent a lot of money but made sure that we didn’t go into budget deficit. We went after sectors that needed to be deregulated but didn’t liberalize things for the sake of it. I mean recently the government stopped controlling the price of cement but in agriculture, we still tightly control the import of rice.”
“I don’t want to be provocative but there are certain institutions that say you are departing a little too much from the path they want you to take”, began Klaus.
“Well, we weren’t able to fix school roofs and pot holes in roads because we listened too much to a certain institution. A few weeks before I took office, there was a bank rush. That too was because we listened too much”, said Try.
29th January 2000:
The organizers were kind enough set a boardroom up for the meeting after President Bill Clinton of the United States had made his speech to the WEF. Try was accompanied by Edi, Ginandjar Kartasasmita, and Minister of Economics and National Development Planning Soedradjad Djiwandono. Clinton by Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers, White House Chief of Staff John Podesta, and Undersecretary of Treasury for International Affairs Tim Geithner.
Clinton warmly congratulated Indonesia on its economic recovery but says that Indonesia needs to have more respect for the IMF. Try countered that he has always respected the IMF, the question is does the IMF have respect for the situation in Indonesia. Clinton said that he understood it having had the situation explained to him by the prime ministers of Singapore and Japan among others.
Summers spoke next saying that “this conversation shouldn’t even happen” because Indonesia’s exit from the IMF is a matter between Indonesia and the IMF. Summers said that Indonesia should accept the IMF’s terms for exit. Soedradjad said that that’s impossible because it means diverting significant amounts of money which could lessen Indonesia’s economic growth for the year. Summers said if that’s the consequence, “so be it”. Soedradjad said that Indonesia will need 4 years to repay the debt it owed the IMF to which Summers snorted.
The room became heated as Ginandjar sarcastically asked if Indonesia had to be as close as Brazil before the US Treasury would give it some leniency. Try and Clinton calmed their delegations down. The meeting ended in a deadlock.
That night as Try went through the paperwork in his suite, Edi interrupted with news that Podesta was waiting outside. Once inside, Podesta told Try that Clinton had consulted widely and had an offer: Indonesia’s immediate exit from the IMF Program and 3 years to repay whatever Indonesia owed the IMF in exchange for Indonesia refraining from showing open support and/or mobilizing support for any of the IMF Managing Director candidates. Try and Edi asked for some time to huddle.
After huddling with Ginandjar, Soedradjad, Edi, and even placing a call to Sumarlin back in Jakarta, Try emerged from the room to tell Podesta to accept the deal.
30th January 2000:
In the morning news came that Camdessus had accepted the terms set out by Clinton. Try delegated to Soedradjad to sign the agreement on behalf of Indonesia.
Edi and Ginandjar got the task of announcing the agreement to the Indonesian press corps who had come for the trip. When asked if the United States had imposed its will as regards to Indonesia’s having to abstain on the IMF Managing Director’s vote, Ginandjar argued that it was a mutual decision and that “actually, the United States recognized Indonesia’s potential to influence and mobilize, otherwise it would not have sought to keep Indonesia as far away from the vote of the IMF Managing Director’s vote”.
Try was more circumspect. After a courtesy visit to President of Switzerland Adolf Ogi, he boarded his Presidential Airplane homeward bound for Jakarta. He had a press conference from his seat.
“We’ve put the economic crisis behind us and now, we’ve put the IMF behind us”, Try said “This will give us as a nation the ability to move on to other things.”
---
Just as a comparison with OTL: Indonesia exited the IMF Program in December 2003 and repaid all its debts in December 2006.
In OTL, BP-7 was an agency responsible for disseminating Indonesia's national ideology of Pancasila through P4 training courses lasting up to a combined 120 hours. For many people in society it was an ordeal that they had to go through (My Mum: It was boring as heck but it's good to have on your CV that you've done P4 training). For critics of Soeharto's regime, the BP-7 was criticized as ideological indoctrination and during Habibie's presidency, the BP7 was abolished. The consequence of the abolition of BP7 was an ideological vacuum which one could argue has been filled by Islam and people being more openly devout in Indonesia. In the present day, the acknowledgement that there has been ideological neglect in the country takes the form of the Pancasila Ideological Fostering Agency (BPIP) which was formed by current President Jokowi in 2017.
So we've got some interesting dynamics going on here. You've got the guys that would go on to become PKS and the PBB running around ITTL with the same goals that they have OTL but at the same time there's this ideological agency as well.
As someone who had P4 in school.. it was boringgg. The (then) more flexible and exciting islamists would still seep through to plant their seeds
In OTL the Islamists had a good and lucky run. First they were able to portray themselves as an alternative and then the BP-7 was abolished so they had a free run. It's difficult to say that they haven't been successful. At UI, most of the Chairman of the Student Council, when they've chosen to join politics, have tended towards PKS.
It's the confidence of a nation that successfully came out of the Asian Financial Crisis. But for balance's sake, I got Try put in his place by Clinton by being banned from interfering in the IMF Managing Director's selection if it wanted to have lenient exit terms.
Well or course they were already groomed from highschool mostly through the rohis organizations - in uni they joined the tarbiyah units and was directed to be a solid block of power in campus politics. There was a grand design to win every faculty president election which they usually did win except for a few faculties. The candidates are usually alumni of nurul fikri’s rumah kepemimpinan where tarbiyah send their cadres for training (like what HMI’s LK does tho its a lot more structured)
Ain't that a big win. In addition to leniency, now Indonesia doesn't have to face the dilemma of supporting which candidates anymore, both of which have been helping and pushing Indonesia to support their candidates. As it's the motherfucking President of The United States of America himself that delivers the terms, what can Try do? They probably won't hold a grudge.
Wow, thank you for that. Definitely some research I can get my head into.
You’re right, Japan and Germany won’t hold a grudge. Good stuff for seeing that. I didn’t even realize that.
That said (and without spoiling anything), Clinton imposing America’s will on Indonesia like that will effect Indonesia’s foreign policy.
80: Assassination and Internal Division
31st January 2000:
The South Jakarta District Court today acquitted Tommy Soeharto and Ricardo Gelael in the Bulog Landswap deal, declaring that they were both innocent.
In the evening, Try met with Minister of Legal Affairs Albert Hasibuan to assess what was going on. Hasibuan said the Attorney General and the prosecutors have shown they’re not afraid to go after Tommy Soeharto but it seems the judges and the courts are the weak links in the legal system.
“You have to reform the courts from the very top and that means having a clean Chief of Justice of the Supreme Court”, said Hasibuan.
1st February 2000:
The President met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Ginandjar Kartasasmita, Minister of Defense and Security Wismoyo Arismunandar, Commander of ABRI Wiranto, State Secretary Edi Sudrajat and Chief of BAKIN Ari Sudewo. Ari Sudewo briefed those in the meeting that the situation in the Philippines had deteriorated between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to the point of the MILF asking for independence as a pre-condition for peace. Try does not commit to a course of action.
In an ICMI Leadership meeting, Chairman of ICMI BJ Habibie said that ICMI’s stance as regards Chairman of BP-7’s Soegiarto’s speech is that Soegiarto is doing his job as the nation’s chief ideological spokesman.
2nd February 2000:
Interviewed on RCTI’s Nuansa Pagi, businessman Hashim Djojohadikusumo said that he is repaying his BLBI assistance and he’s renegotiated the price at which the government buys electricity from his electricity generator to one which is acceptable to the government. He said he doesn’t appreciate the notion that he’s somehow “less than patriotic”.
The President, accompanied by Head of BPN Jusuf Kartanegara handed out over 2,000 land certificates in East Jakarta today. Try said he wanted an acceleration of this program because having certificates gave legal protection to the people. He hopes that the BPN will continue to accelerate the process of printing land certificates.
3rd February 2000:
Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi of Japan arrived for a two-day visit. In their talks, Obuchi said that he understood it if Indonesia would abstain from being involved in the IMF Managing Directors’ voting and that Japan would not hold it against him.
In a ceremony also attended by Ginandjar Kartasasmita, Minister of Transportation Soerjadi Soedirja, Governor of Jakarta Sutiyoso, and CEO of PT KAI Anwar Supriyadi from the Indonesian side as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Yohei Kono and Minister of Transportation Jiro Kawasaki, Obuchi symbolically handed 72 Tokyo Rail trains to be used as part of Jakarta’s commuter railway network to Try.
4th February 2000:
While Obuchi got on with other engagements and then home to Tokyo, Try attended Friday Prayers at the Department of Religion where Minister of Religion Quraish Shihab delivered a Friday lecture. Chairman of NU Abdurrahman Wahid and Chairman of Muhammadiyah Amien Rais were there as well as was Chairman of BP-7 Soegiarto.
“Pancasila is a blessing given by Allah which is given to Indonesia’s inhabitants as protection from all the challenges that can divide a nation. As such, let all members of the Indonesian community appreciate that blessing by guarding the wholeness of our nation through the observance of Pancasila.”
Elsewhere, Minister of Agriculture Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, always a favorite with reporters as a result of his sharp tongue, was asked about his reaction to Hashim Djojohadikusumo’s interview.
“If people are so patriotic they should pay their BLBI repayments voluntarily and sell electricity at a fair price instead of waiting for the government to come and ask to negotiate with them”, Sarwono said.
6th February 2000:
With a week to go until the Golkar Central Java Provincial Congress, there are two candidates for the position of chairman. Incumbent and Try supporter Alip Pandoyo will be seeking to defend the chairman’s position from Soewardi, formerly Governor of Central Java and supported by Tutut.
7th February 2000:
Minister of Transmigration Hendropriyono used his lunchtime to dine at Megawati Soekarnoputri and Taufiq Kiemas’ residence. It had been 6 years since Hendropriyono, much to Soeharto’s anger, did nothing to prevent Megawati’s election as Chairwoman of the PDI. Megawati never forgot such favors.
The main topic was Megawati’s intentions. Megawati said that her preparations are on track for the next PDI National Congress, scheduled for June 2001. Taufiq Kiemas asked about the President’s attitude towards Megawati and her supporters.
“Still annoyed that you withdrew his Minister of Public Works last April”, said Hendropriyono “It wasn’t the best move, considering he gave it to Soetjipto as a peace offering and acknowledgement that you exist.”
“I needed Soetjipto, Mas”, replied Megawati “He’s a warrior.”
“How could we best make it up to him?” asked Taufiq.
“From where I sit, win at the PDI National Congress, be the Chairwoman, and divert PDI’s support from Tutut to him”, said Hendropriyono.
8th February 2000:
In a press conference, Attorney General Soedjono C. Atmonegoro announced that prosecutors will be directing an appeal to the Supreme Court on the South Jakarta District Court’s decision to acquit Tommy Soeharto and Ricardo Gelael.
With State Minister of Female Empowerment and Children’s Affairs Khofifah Indar Parawansa in attendance, the DPR unanimously passed the Child Protection Law.
9th February 2000:
The President and his delegation, which included Minister of Tourism Soeyono and Minister of Trade Dorodjatun-Kuntjoro-Jakti, arrived in Denpasar, Bali this morning where they were welcomed by Governor I Made Bandem. At Bali, Try inaugurated the Istana Kuta Galeria Mall. From there he walked around Kuta Beach greeting local and foreign visitors alike though the latter tended to jokingly complain about the increase in alchohol excise. From Kuta, he went to Jimbaran to look at development projects there.
It was over ayam betutu for lunch that the trip came to a premature end. Edi Sudrajat was called aside by an aide and returned ashen-faced. Try asked what the problem was.
“It’s Soegiarto, Mr. President”, said Edi “He’s dead.”
Try couldn’t process it but he immediately jumped into his vehicle. Try got on the phone with Military Secretary Mardiyanto at Jakarta. Mardiyanto said the Chairman of BP-7 had just completed the opening of a P4 Training Session at Airlangga University in Surabaya and was walking towards his car when someone from the crowd emerged, slit his throat, and stabbed him numerous times while yelling “Allahu Akbar!”. Soegiarto bled profusely and was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital. The assassin is still at large.
“I think right now I want security at the residences and on the persons of ministers and heads of agencies to be tightened”, ordered Try.
Arriving in Jakarta at 3 PM, Try held a meeting attended by Minister of Home Affairs Harsudiono Hartas, Ginandjar Kartasasmita, Wismoyo Arismunandar, Albert Hasibuan, Minister of Information, Post, and Telecommunications Oka Mahendra, Wiranto, and Ari Sudewo.
At a press conference, a statement was read out by Edi saying that the President was safe, that there will be 7 days’ mourning, and a funeral tomorrow. Sitting next to him, Oka Mahendra called for television networks to respect Soegiarto and not play whatever footage they may have of him being stabbed to death.
At 5 PM, Soegiarto’s body arrived in a coffin carried by a Hercules Cargo Aircraft. Chief of Police Luthfi Dahlan emerged from the aircraft, having gone to Surabaya to oversee efforts to try to apprehend the criminal (“We’ve got both the East Java Police and the East Java Regional Military Command to hunt this guy down”).
Soegiarto’s body was placed at his house where his family mourned over him accompanied by First Lady Tuti Setiawati. In a corner of the room Try sat down with the group of men who belonged to his generation of Army officers. Try silently wiped away tears remembering the time when he and Soegiarto, having been the first of their generation to reach the rank of brigadier general, were sent to report their promotion to Soeharto.
“What happened to Mr. Soegiarto is nothing short of a tragedy for his family and the nation”, said Try “You can be sure that we will do all that is necessary to hunt the perpretators of this uncivilized act.”
10th February 2000:
President Try presided over Soegiarto’s funeral at the Kalibata Heroes’ Cemetery today, being the first to shovel dirt on Soegiarto’s coffin and saluting it.
At Golkar National Headquarters, Golkar Secretary ZA Maulani announced that out of respect for Soegiarto’s death, the Golkar Central Java Provincial Congress will be delayed by a week.
11th February 2000:
Still in mourning, Try was in the mood for silence and contemplation for Friday prayer. During lunch, Edi reported that “jockeying” has already begun. There’s a growing sentiment in the Army officer corps that Agum Gumelar should be the new Chairman of BP-7 though that sentiment seemed to be driven by the fact that should Agum be appointed to the position left behind by Soegiarto, there would be a need for a new Army Chief of Staff for which there are many contenders.
Try ended the day meeting with Ginandjar Kartasasmita and BJ Habibie. Habibie conveyed a message from Germany’s Chancellor Schroder that Indonesia’s abstaining from the IMF Managing Director’s vote won’t effect Indonesian-German relations. Try asked both men to continue maintaining their relationships with their contacts in Japan and Germany. It would do well for Indonesia to have an informal channel to the world’s second and third largest economies.
14th February 2000:
The President and his delegation landed at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia this morning where he was welcomed by Yang Dipertoan Agong Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Azis Shah. After a short meeting, the President and his delegation headed out from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajaya to meet Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Try was accompanied by Ginandjar Kartasasmita while Badawi was accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs Rafidah Azis. The President and Badawi discussed various matters among others:
*Try said that it’s his intention to back the Philippines in its effort to crush the MILF rebels. Badawi is still ambivalent about siding with the Philippines.
*Try brought up the issue of radicalism. Badawi said that Abu Bakar Basyir is “Well-hidden” in Maaysia though his government is keeping up surveillance. They both agree to increase cooperation especially as regards the movement of Indonesians and Malaysians between each other’s borders.
*Badawi says he understood the circumstances surrounding Indonesia’s planned abstention from the IMF Managing Director vote.
At the joint press conference between himself and Badawi, Try was asked about Soegiarto’s assassination and whether that has affected his stance towards what’s happening in the Philippines.
“I think whether it takes the form of a political assassination or a group of secessionists trying to break from the nation and bombs as we have seen in the Philippines, radicalism or extremism, however you want to call it, is something that you have to stand up against”, Try said.
The night saw Try feted in a State Dinner by the Yang Dipertoan Agung before returning to Kuala Lumpur.
15th February 2000:
Try breakfasted with former Prime Minister Mahathir who was congratulary and said that “The IMF is angry with you because you beat them at their own game.”
After spending some time with Indonesian migrant workers accompanied by Head of BNP2TKI Tosari Widjaja, Try got on the Presidential plane and departed for Johor Bahru.
Mid-flight, he received a call from President Joseph Estrada of the Philippines saying that the latter had begun operations against the MILF. Estrada said that he appreciated Try’s support.
At Johor Bahru, Try was accompanied by Minister of Economics and National Development Planning Soedradjad Djiwandono, Minister of Trade Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, and State Minister for Development of Eastern Indonesia and Special Economic Zones Jusuf Kalla. Badawi was accompanied by Minister of Trade and Industry Najib Razak. The two delegations were joined by a Singaporean delegation comprising of Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Minister of National Development Mah Bow Tan, and Minister of Trade and Industry George Yeo.
The three delegations were there to discuss the Singapore-Johor-Riau (Sijori) cooperation which had been conducted in 1994. All agreed that cooperation should continue and intensify the cooperation. For Indonesia’s part, it secured infrastructure investment in archipelagic Riau.
16th February 2000:
Try and his delegation crossed the causeway from Johor Bahru into Singapore. He was welcomed with a breakfast with President SR Nathan.
After breakfast was a meeting with Goh Chok Tong and Minister of Foreign Affairs Shanmugam Jayakumar. Goh agreed and committed Singapore to Indonesia’s stance that the Philippines should be backed but that it would be better if Malaysia also supports Indonesia’s stance as well.
From the meeting with Goh, Try inaugurated the BKPM’s office in Singapore. Head of BKPM Mari Elka Pangestu said that this will be the BKPM’s first of many overseas offices which will aim to actively promote investment in Indonesia.
The final meeting before leaving from Singapore was a private audience with Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew. The blunt talking statesman told Try that Indonesia is the largest nation in Southeast Asia, largest Muslim country in the world, largest archipelago, a respected nation in the non-aligned world and most recently the first nation in Southeast Asia to overcome the Asian Financial Crisis. Lee said certainly there’s more that Indonesia could have done when Clinton told it to abstain from the IMF Managing Director’s vote. At the very least, there’s more that Indonesia could do so that it could stand up to US pressure better “next time”.
Arriving at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, Try immediately met with Wismoyo Arismunandar, Wiranto, Ari Sudewo, Army Chief of Staff Agum Gumelar, Navy Chief of Staff Indroko Sastrowiryono, Air Force Chief of Staff Hanafie Asnan, Luthfi Dahlan, and Deputy Commander of ABRI Johnny Lumintang.
Try ordered the Navy to step up its patrols around Indonesia and the Philippines’ maritime borders at the north of Sulawesi. Anyone coming from the Philippines should be handed to the relevant Filipino authorities because Indonesia “Doesn’t want any MILF rebels looking for refuge in Indonesia”.
There was happier news from Luthfi Dahlan. The Chief of Police reported that while the President was in Malaysia, Soegiarto’s assassin had been shot dead while putting up resistance. The assassin was a mechanic by the name of Amrozi bin Nurhasyim. Ari Sudewo reported that Amrozi was a student of Abu Bakar Bashir.
17th February 2000:
Ari Sudewo and Luthfi Dahlan held a joint press conference to brief the nation about the assassination of Soegiarto and its atermath. It was the first time that the Indonesian nation was introduced to the name Abu Bakar Bashir and the organization that he had established in Malaysia, Jemaah Islamiyah.
The President had lunch with Chairman of DPR Harmoko. Harmoko informed Try that Hartono and the Tutut supporters were still playing the game of agreeing to whatever the government proposes so it is difficult to gauge how much support they have among Golkar’s DPR members at the moment.
18th February 2000:
Minister of Social Affairs Meutia Hatta announced that the President has approved of a proposal aimed at improving the livelihoods of the elderly. This proposal will mean the enactment of identity cards with no expiry dates for those aged over 65, mandating public facilities like transportation and museums to have cheaper senior citizen tickets, and making places more wheelchair friendly.
As the week came to an end, Try dropped by Edi’s office where the State Secretary and Deputy State Secretary Soedibyo Rahardjo was deep in discussion. Try told the two about his conversation with Lee Kuan Yew this past week and asked for their opinion on it, especially from Soedibyo Rahardjo since he had been Ambassador to Singapore.
“From where I sit, I think he’s saying that Indonesia a big nation and shouldn’t be afraid of asserting itself or positioning itself s that it can be more assertive on the regional or international stage”, said Soedibyo “We shouldn’t start going on Soekarno-style foreign adventures but we probably could have more of a presence than the previous government.”
19th February 2000:
Abdurrahman Wahid had a special guest on this Saturday after dinner in the form of Taufiq Kiemas. They talked about mundane matters before going on to talk about political matters and the conversation with Hendropriyono some days ago.
“Can it be done, Gus?” asked Taufiq “Is there a way for Mega to be a part of the President’s coalition?”
“You’ll have to offer him something more than 11 seats in the DPR assuming Mega wins the Chairwomanship”, said Wahid “This is a coalition that has the Chairman of the DPR, a technologist, an old officer who stood with Soeharto in 1965, the Chairman of the PPP, and then you’ve also got the Chairmen of NU and Muhammadiyah.”
“What about Soekarno’s daughter?” challenged Taufiq.
“We have Hatta’s daughter if we want to play that game”, replied Wahid.
Taufiq seems exasperated.
“Anyway”, Wahid began “I think both you and I know that Mega’s probably not interested in a coalition with the President anyway. She’s interested in something more than just a coalition. Soeharto wouldn’t be that scared of her if she was merely interested in being part of the political system. Try wouldn’t be that annoyed if he believed that Mega “merely” wants to prepare for the 2001 PDI National Congress.”
Taufiq was about to say something when Yenny, Wahid’s eldest daughter interrupted.
“Dad”, she said “Something’s happening.”
Yenny and Taufiq guided Wahid to the living room where the television was broadcasting scenes from the Golkar Central Java Provincial Congress where the delegates were exchanging punches with each other. There were chairs overturned and yellow jackets ripped as delegates to the congress ignored the calls to calm down and continued punching each other.
“Viewers across the nation”, began a voiceover speaking to the audience “We’re live here from the Golkar Central Java Provincial Congress where former Governor of Central Java Soewardi has just been declared elected as the new Chairman of Golkar’s Central Java Provincial Branch.
There were some protests from the supporters of the now-outgoing Chairman Alip Pandoyo to the organizing committee of the provincial congress about the way the congress was conducted but this was ignored. Some taunting went on by the Soewardi supporters which escalated to Alip Pandoyo supporters throwing bottles and food and which led to what you’re seeing now…
This is a surreal sight...this is something that has become custom in a PDI Congress but it is nothing short of unreal to see Golkar members openly and physically fighting with each other…”
---
Well just as Try put behind the crisis and the IMF behind him, there are some things that require his attention.
Just as in OTL Tommy Soeharto is acquitted at the District Court stage and the government responded by appealing to the Supreme Court.
Quraish Shihab's sermon based on the 4th paragraph of this article: https://www.islamramah.co/2018/11/2249/quraish-shihab-pancasila-pakaian-kita-sebagai-bangsa.html
I wanted radicalism to make a dramatic entrance in this TL. Here it takes the form of Amrozi (The OTL smiling Bali bomber) striking a blow against the government by killing its ideological chief. Note how Try was indecisive about what his stance should be to the MILF separatists in the Philippines before Soegiarto’s assassination but all of a sudden wants to take a hardline stance after Soegiarto’s assassination.
Try and Soegiarto being the first of their generation to become brigadiers general and being told to report to Soeharto comes from: http://soeharto.co/soegiarto-pak-harto-melakukan-rekayasa-dan-kaderisasi-untuk-pembangunan/
And then of course you have Golkar vs. Golkar…
The South Jakarta District Court today acquitted Tommy Soeharto and Ricardo Gelael in the Bulog Landswap deal, declaring that they were both innocent.
In the evening, Try met with Minister of Legal Affairs Albert Hasibuan to assess what was going on. Hasibuan said the Attorney General and the prosecutors have shown they’re not afraid to go after Tommy Soeharto but it seems the judges and the courts are the weak links in the legal system.
“You have to reform the courts from the very top and that means having a clean Chief of Justice of the Supreme Court”, said Hasibuan.
1st February 2000:
The President met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Ginandjar Kartasasmita, Minister of Defense and Security Wismoyo Arismunandar, Commander of ABRI Wiranto, State Secretary Edi Sudrajat and Chief of BAKIN Ari Sudewo. Ari Sudewo briefed those in the meeting that the situation in the Philippines had deteriorated between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to the point of the MILF asking for independence as a pre-condition for peace. Try does not commit to a course of action.
In an ICMI Leadership meeting, Chairman of ICMI BJ Habibie said that ICMI’s stance as regards Chairman of BP-7’s Soegiarto’s speech is that Soegiarto is doing his job as the nation’s chief ideological spokesman.
2nd February 2000:
Interviewed on RCTI’s Nuansa Pagi, businessman Hashim Djojohadikusumo said that he is repaying his BLBI assistance and he’s renegotiated the price at which the government buys electricity from his electricity generator to one which is acceptable to the government. He said he doesn’t appreciate the notion that he’s somehow “less than patriotic”.
The President, accompanied by Head of BPN Jusuf Kartanegara handed out over 2,000 land certificates in East Jakarta today. Try said he wanted an acceleration of this program because having certificates gave legal protection to the people. He hopes that the BPN will continue to accelerate the process of printing land certificates.
3rd February 2000:
Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi of Japan arrived for a two-day visit. In their talks, Obuchi said that he understood it if Indonesia would abstain from being involved in the IMF Managing Directors’ voting and that Japan would not hold it against him.
In a ceremony also attended by Ginandjar Kartasasmita, Minister of Transportation Soerjadi Soedirja, Governor of Jakarta Sutiyoso, and CEO of PT KAI Anwar Supriyadi from the Indonesian side as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Yohei Kono and Minister of Transportation Jiro Kawasaki, Obuchi symbolically handed 72 Tokyo Rail trains to be used as part of Jakarta’s commuter railway network to Try.
4th February 2000:
While Obuchi got on with other engagements and then home to Tokyo, Try attended Friday Prayers at the Department of Religion where Minister of Religion Quraish Shihab delivered a Friday lecture. Chairman of NU Abdurrahman Wahid and Chairman of Muhammadiyah Amien Rais were there as well as was Chairman of BP-7 Soegiarto.
“Pancasila is a blessing given by Allah which is given to Indonesia’s inhabitants as protection from all the challenges that can divide a nation. As such, let all members of the Indonesian community appreciate that blessing by guarding the wholeness of our nation through the observance of Pancasila.”
Elsewhere, Minister of Agriculture Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, always a favorite with reporters as a result of his sharp tongue, was asked about his reaction to Hashim Djojohadikusumo’s interview.
“If people are so patriotic they should pay their BLBI repayments voluntarily and sell electricity at a fair price instead of waiting for the government to come and ask to negotiate with them”, Sarwono said.
6th February 2000:
With a week to go until the Golkar Central Java Provincial Congress, there are two candidates for the position of chairman. Incumbent and Try supporter Alip Pandoyo will be seeking to defend the chairman’s position from Soewardi, formerly Governor of Central Java and supported by Tutut.
7th February 2000:
Minister of Transmigration Hendropriyono used his lunchtime to dine at Megawati Soekarnoputri and Taufiq Kiemas’ residence. It had been 6 years since Hendropriyono, much to Soeharto’s anger, did nothing to prevent Megawati’s election as Chairwoman of the PDI. Megawati never forgot such favors.
The main topic was Megawati’s intentions. Megawati said that her preparations are on track for the next PDI National Congress, scheduled for June 2001. Taufiq Kiemas asked about the President’s attitude towards Megawati and her supporters.
“Still annoyed that you withdrew his Minister of Public Works last April”, said Hendropriyono “It wasn’t the best move, considering he gave it to Soetjipto as a peace offering and acknowledgement that you exist.”
“I needed Soetjipto, Mas”, replied Megawati “He’s a warrior.”
“How could we best make it up to him?” asked Taufiq.
“From where I sit, win at the PDI National Congress, be the Chairwoman, and divert PDI’s support from Tutut to him”, said Hendropriyono.
8th February 2000:
In a press conference, Attorney General Soedjono C. Atmonegoro announced that prosecutors will be directing an appeal to the Supreme Court on the South Jakarta District Court’s decision to acquit Tommy Soeharto and Ricardo Gelael.
With State Minister of Female Empowerment and Children’s Affairs Khofifah Indar Parawansa in attendance, the DPR unanimously passed the Child Protection Law.
9th February 2000:
The President and his delegation, which included Minister of Tourism Soeyono and Minister of Trade Dorodjatun-Kuntjoro-Jakti, arrived in Denpasar, Bali this morning where they were welcomed by Governor I Made Bandem. At Bali, Try inaugurated the Istana Kuta Galeria Mall. From there he walked around Kuta Beach greeting local and foreign visitors alike though the latter tended to jokingly complain about the increase in alchohol excise. From Kuta, he went to Jimbaran to look at development projects there.
It was over ayam betutu for lunch that the trip came to a premature end. Edi Sudrajat was called aside by an aide and returned ashen-faced. Try asked what the problem was.
“It’s Soegiarto, Mr. President”, said Edi “He’s dead.”
Try couldn’t process it but he immediately jumped into his vehicle. Try got on the phone with Military Secretary Mardiyanto at Jakarta. Mardiyanto said the Chairman of BP-7 had just completed the opening of a P4 Training Session at Airlangga University in Surabaya and was walking towards his car when someone from the crowd emerged, slit his throat, and stabbed him numerous times while yelling “Allahu Akbar!”. Soegiarto bled profusely and was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital. The assassin is still at large.
“I think right now I want security at the residences and on the persons of ministers and heads of agencies to be tightened”, ordered Try.
Arriving in Jakarta at 3 PM, Try held a meeting attended by Minister of Home Affairs Harsudiono Hartas, Ginandjar Kartasasmita, Wismoyo Arismunandar, Albert Hasibuan, Minister of Information, Post, and Telecommunications Oka Mahendra, Wiranto, and Ari Sudewo.
At a press conference, a statement was read out by Edi saying that the President was safe, that there will be 7 days’ mourning, and a funeral tomorrow. Sitting next to him, Oka Mahendra called for television networks to respect Soegiarto and not play whatever footage they may have of him being stabbed to death.
At 5 PM, Soegiarto’s body arrived in a coffin carried by a Hercules Cargo Aircraft. Chief of Police Luthfi Dahlan emerged from the aircraft, having gone to Surabaya to oversee efforts to try to apprehend the criminal (“We’ve got both the East Java Police and the East Java Regional Military Command to hunt this guy down”).
Soegiarto’s body was placed at his house where his family mourned over him accompanied by First Lady Tuti Setiawati. In a corner of the room Try sat down with the group of men who belonged to his generation of Army officers. Try silently wiped away tears remembering the time when he and Soegiarto, having been the first of their generation to reach the rank of brigadier general, were sent to report their promotion to Soeharto.
“What happened to Mr. Soegiarto is nothing short of a tragedy for his family and the nation”, said Try “You can be sure that we will do all that is necessary to hunt the perpretators of this uncivilized act.”
10th February 2000:
President Try presided over Soegiarto’s funeral at the Kalibata Heroes’ Cemetery today, being the first to shovel dirt on Soegiarto’s coffin and saluting it.
At Golkar National Headquarters, Golkar Secretary ZA Maulani announced that out of respect for Soegiarto’s death, the Golkar Central Java Provincial Congress will be delayed by a week.
11th February 2000:
Still in mourning, Try was in the mood for silence and contemplation for Friday prayer. During lunch, Edi reported that “jockeying” has already begun. There’s a growing sentiment in the Army officer corps that Agum Gumelar should be the new Chairman of BP-7 though that sentiment seemed to be driven by the fact that should Agum be appointed to the position left behind by Soegiarto, there would be a need for a new Army Chief of Staff for which there are many contenders.
Try ended the day meeting with Ginandjar Kartasasmita and BJ Habibie. Habibie conveyed a message from Germany’s Chancellor Schroder that Indonesia’s abstaining from the IMF Managing Director’s vote won’t effect Indonesian-German relations. Try asked both men to continue maintaining their relationships with their contacts in Japan and Germany. It would do well for Indonesia to have an informal channel to the world’s second and third largest economies.
14th February 2000:
The President and his delegation landed at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia this morning where he was welcomed by Yang Dipertoan Agong Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Azis Shah. After a short meeting, the President and his delegation headed out from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajaya to meet Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Try was accompanied by Ginandjar Kartasasmita while Badawi was accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs Rafidah Azis. The President and Badawi discussed various matters among others:
*Try said that it’s his intention to back the Philippines in its effort to crush the MILF rebels. Badawi is still ambivalent about siding with the Philippines.
*Try brought up the issue of radicalism. Badawi said that Abu Bakar Basyir is “Well-hidden” in Maaysia though his government is keeping up surveillance. They both agree to increase cooperation especially as regards the movement of Indonesians and Malaysians between each other’s borders.
*Badawi says he understood the circumstances surrounding Indonesia’s planned abstention from the IMF Managing Director vote.
At the joint press conference between himself and Badawi, Try was asked about Soegiarto’s assassination and whether that has affected his stance towards what’s happening in the Philippines.
“I think whether it takes the form of a political assassination or a group of secessionists trying to break from the nation and bombs as we have seen in the Philippines, radicalism or extremism, however you want to call it, is something that you have to stand up against”, Try said.
The night saw Try feted in a State Dinner by the Yang Dipertoan Agung before returning to Kuala Lumpur.
15th February 2000:
Try breakfasted with former Prime Minister Mahathir who was congratulary and said that “The IMF is angry with you because you beat them at their own game.”
After spending some time with Indonesian migrant workers accompanied by Head of BNP2TKI Tosari Widjaja, Try got on the Presidential plane and departed for Johor Bahru.
Mid-flight, he received a call from President Joseph Estrada of the Philippines saying that the latter had begun operations against the MILF. Estrada said that he appreciated Try’s support.
At Johor Bahru, Try was accompanied by Minister of Economics and National Development Planning Soedradjad Djiwandono, Minister of Trade Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, and State Minister for Development of Eastern Indonesia and Special Economic Zones Jusuf Kalla. Badawi was accompanied by Minister of Trade and Industry Najib Razak. The two delegations were joined by a Singaporean delegation comprising of Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Minister of National Development Mah Bow Tan, and Minister of Trade and Industry George Yeo.
The three delegations were there to discuss the Singapore-Johor-Riau (Sijori) cooperation which had been conducted in 1994. All agreed that cooperation should continue and intensify the cooperation. For Indonesia’s part, it secured infrastructure investment in archipelagic Riau.
16th February 2000:
Try and his delegation crossed the causeway from Johor Bahru into Singapore. He was welcomed with a breakfast with President SR Nathan.
After breakfast was a meeting with Goh Chok Tong and Minister of Foreign Affairs Shanmugam Jayakumar. Goh agreed and committed Singapore to Indonesia’s stance that the Philippines should be backed but that it would be better if Malaysia also supports Indonesia’s stance as well.
From the meeting with Goh, Try inaugurated the BKPM’s office in Singapore. Head of BKPM Mari Elka Pangestu said that this will be the BKPM’s first of many overseas offices which will aim to actively promote investment in Indonesia.
The final meeting before leaving from Singapore was a private audience with Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew. The blunt talking statesman told Try that Indonesia is the largest nation in Southeast Asia, largest Muslim country in the world, largest archipelago, a respected nation in the non-aligned world and most recently the first nation in Southeast Asia to overcome the Asian Financial Crisis. Lee said certainly there’s more that Indonesia could have done when Clinton told it to abstain from the IMF Managing Director’s vote. At the very least, there’s more that Indonesia could do so that it could stand up to US pressure better “next time”.
Arriving at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, Try immediately met with Wismoyo Arismunandar, Wiranto, Ari Sudewo, Army Chief of Staff Agum Gumelar, Navy Chief of Staff Indroko Sastrowiryono, Air Force Chief of Staff Hanafie Asnan, Luthfi Dahlan, and Deputy Commander of ABRI Johnny Lumintang.
Try ordered the Navy to step up its patrols around Indonesia and the Philippines’ maritime borders at the north of Sulawesi. Anyone coming from the Philippines should be handed to the relevant Filipino authorities because Indonesia “Doesn’t want any MILF rebels looking for refuge in Indonesia”.
There was happier news from Luthfi Dahlan. The Chief of Police reported that while the President was in Malaysia, Soegiarto’s assassin had been shot dead while putting up resistance. The assassin was a mechanic by the name of Amrozi bin Nurhasyim. Ari Sudewo reported that Amrozi was a student of Abu Bakar Bashir.
17th February 2000:
Ari Sudewo and Luthfi Dahlan held a joint press conference to brief the nation about the assassination of Soegiarto and its atermath. It was the first time that the Indonesian nation was introduced to the name Abu Bakar Bashir and the organization that he had established in Malaysia, Jemaah Islamiyah.
The President had lunch with Chairman of DPR Harmoko. Harmoko informed Try that Hartono and the Tutut supporters were still playing the game of agreeing to whatever the government proposes so it is difficult to gauge how much support they have among Golkar’s DPR members at the moment.
18th February 2000:
Minister of Social Affairs Meutia Hatta announced that the President has approved of a proposal aimed at improving the livelihoods of the elderly. This proposal will mean the enactment of identity cards with no expiry dates for those aged over 65, mandating public facilities like transportation and museums to have cheaper senior citizen tickets, and making places more wheelchair friendly.
As the week came to an end, Try dropped by Edi’s office where the State Secretary and Deputy State Secretary Soedibyo Rahardjo was deep in discussion. Try told the two about his conversation with Lee Kuan Yew this past week and asked for their opinion on it, especially from Soedibyo Rahardjo since he had been Ambassador to Singapore.
“From where I sit, I think he’s saying that Indonesia a big nation and shouldn’t be afraid of asserting itself or positioning itself s that it can be more assertive on the regional or international stage”, said Soedibyo “We shouldn’t start going on Soekarno-style foreign adventures but we probably could have more of a presence than the previous government.”
19th February 2000:
Abdurrahman Wahid had a special guest on this Saturday after dinner in the form of Taufiq Kiemas. They talked about mundane matters before going on to talk about political matters and the conversation with Hendropriyono some days ago.
“Can it be done, Gus?” asked Taufiq “Is there a way for Mega to be a part of the President’s coalition?”
“You’ll have to offer him something more than 11 seats in the DPR assuming Mega wins the Chairwomanship”, said Wahid “This is a coalition that has the Chairman of the DPR, a technologist, an old officer who stood with Soeharto in 1965, the Chairman of the PPP, and then you’ve also got the Chairmen of NU and Muhammadiyah.”
“What about Soekarno’s daughter?” challenged Taufiq.
“We have Hatta’s daughter if we want to play that game”, replied Wahid.
Taufiq seems exasperated.
“Anyway”, Wahid began “I think both you and I know that Mega’s probably not interested in a coalition with the President anyway. She’s interested in something more than just a coalition. Soeharto wouldn’t be that scared of her if she was merely interested in being part of the political system. Try wouldn’t be that annoyed if he believed that Mega “merely” wants to prepare for the 2001 PDI National Congress.”
Taufiq was about to say something when Yenny, Wahid’s eldest daughter interrupted.
“Dad”, she said “Something’s happening.”
Yenny and Taufiq guided Wahid to the living room where the television was broadcasting scenes from the Golkar Central Java Provincial Congress where the delegates were exchanging punches with each other. There were chairs overturned and yellow jackets ripped as delegates to the congress ignored the calls to calm down and continued punching each other.
“Viewers across the nation”, began a voiceover speaking to the audience “We’re live here from the Golkar Central Java Provincial Congress where former Governor of Central Java Soewardi has just been declared elected as the new Chairman of Golkar’s Central Java Provincial Branch.
There were some protests from the supporters of the now-outgoing Chairman Alip Pandoyo to the organizing committee of the provincial congress about the way the congress was conducted but this was ignored. Some taunting went on by the Soewardi supporters which escalated to Alip Pandoyo supporters throwing bottles and food and which led to what you’re seeing now…
This is a surreal sight...this is something that has become custom in a PDI Congress but it is nothing short of unreal to see Golkar members openly and physically fighting with each other…”
---
Well just as Try put behind the crisis and the IMF behind him, there are some things that require his attention.
Just as in OTL Tommy Soeharto is acquitted at the District Court stage and the government responded by appealing to the Supreme Court.
Quraish Shihab's sermon based on the 4th paragraph of this article: https://www.islamramah.co/2018/11/2249/quraish-shihab-pancasila-pakaian-kita-sebagai-bangsa.html
I wanted radicalism to make a dramatic entrance in this TL. Here it takes the form of Amrozi (The OTL smiling Bali bomber) striking a blow against the government by killing its ideological chief. Note how Try was indecisive about what his stance should be to the MILF separatists in the Philippines before Soegiarto’s assassination but all of a sudden wants to take a hardline stance after Soegiarto’s assassination.
Try and Soegiarto being the first of their generation to become brigadiers general and being told to report to Soeharto comes from: http://soeharto.co/soegiarto-pak-harto-melakukan-rekayasa-dan-kaderisasi-untuk-pembangunan/
And then of course you have Golkar vs. Golkar…
81: Golkar's Salvageability
20th February 2000:
With a broad smile on her face, Chairwoman of Golkar Tutut Soeharto handed over the banner of Golkar’s Central Java Provincial Branch to its new Chairman Soewardi as the Golkar Central Java Provincial Congress came to a close.
Elsewhere in Semarang, the now former Chairman of the Golkar Provincial Branch Alip Pandoyo held a press conference in which he said that “Those who supported President Try Sutrisno in Central Java” has been subject to intimidation not only at the congress just finished but in the near 2 years since the 1998 MPR Session. Alip Pandoyo claimed that all those who have abstained in the vote for the chairman’s position have done so because they were told that their re-election prospects in the DPRD in 2002 will be in jeopardy.
21st February 2000:
President Try Sutrisno, accompanied by Minister of Home Affairs Harsudiono Hartas and State Secretary Edi Sudrajat, met with Governor of Central Java Prabowo Subianto. Commander of the Central Java Regional Military Command Endriartono Sutarto and Chief of Central Java Police Dai Bachtiar were also in attendance. Endriartono and Dai Bachtiar reported that the situation had been kept under control and the congress had ended peacefully. Prabowo said that Central Java and its economy is functioning just as normal, what happened at the Golkar Central Java Provincial Congress was an isolated incident.
Try could swear that Prabowo looked a little too happy and he got the sense that Prabowo was trying to see if he was displeased with the results of the Provincial Congress.
Elsewhere Chief of Social-Political Affairs Staff Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was interviewed about ABRI’s stance on the situation at Golkar. Yudhoyono said that he hoped the situation will be handled internally within Golkar and soon. When asked about speculation that he might be the next Chairman of BP-7, Yudhoyono frowned and said he’d still prefer to be an active soldier.
22nd February 2000:
Try met with Commander of ABRI Wiranto this morning. Wiranto came out of it saying to the press that he was there to talk about Chief of Police Luthfi Dahlan and Commander of the Marine Corps Sudarsono Kasdi reaching retirement age. Wiranto also said that the President will continue to retain Army Chief of Staff Agum Gumelar but hasn’t revealed who will be the Chairman of BP-7.
The Attorney General’s Office officially submits its appeal to the Supreme Court regarding the South Jakarta District Court's decision to acquit Tommy Soeharto and Ricardo Gelael in the Bulog landswap case.
23rd February 2000:
In an interview with RCTI, Tutut called on “All elements” within Golkar to maintain the peace and reminded all Golkar members that the provincial congresses are mandated by the 1999 Leadership Meeting and it was her attention to hold all 27 provincial congresses before the year was out. Asked about Alip Pandoyo’s comments, she had this to say:
“First of all, we have to be big hearted. At the Jakarta Provincial Congress, nobody questioned the legitimacy of that congress. Could that be because certain people’s favored candidates emerge victorious? I think we have to be more mature about things if when it comes down to it this is just a matter of whether or not one’s favored candidate emerges victorious.
Secondly, the claim made by Mr. Alip Pandoyo that his supporters had been threatened with not being able to be re-elected at the next election is a comment that is baseless and will remain baseless unless evidence can be produced.”
24th February 2000:
ABRI Headquarters was a buzz of activity as the latest command shuffle was announced which included the following highlights:
*Deputy Commander of ABRI Johnny Lumintang was shifted aside to become the new Governor of Lemhanas.
*The Chief of ABRI Intelligence position, currently held by Ian Santoso Perdanakusuma is upgraded to a three star position
*Commander of National Air Defense Command Chappy Hakim is promoted to the rank of Marshal and is appointed Deputy Commander of ABRI to replace Lumintang.
*Brig. Gen. (Mar.) Harry Triono is promoted to the rank of Major General and becomes the new Commander of the Marine Corps to replace the retiring Sudarsono Kasdi.
*The race for the Army Chief of Staff’s position gets another horse in the form of Yudhomo Sastrosuhardjo who was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed Commander of the Army Education and Training Command.
At the Palace, the President swore in the following:
*Lt. Gen. Agus Widjojo was sworn in as the new Chairman of the BP-7 taking over the position left behind by Soegiarto when he was assassinated two weeks prior.
*Lt. Gen. (Pol) Yuyun Mulyana was promoted to the rank of Police General and appointed as the new Chief of Police to succeed the retiring Luthfi Dahlan.
The President’s keynote address was primariy directed at Agus:
“Mr. Chairman, both your father and your immediate predecessor in your current position died defending Pancasila. I do not wish such fate to befell you but I do wish that their conviction in Pancasila will be an example for you to emulate in your new task.”
25th February 2000:
The President made a sudden appearance at Jalan Sudirman in the middle of Jakarta’s CBD today to inspect the wide sidewalks that had been installed over the last few months. He was accompanied by State Minister of Urban Development Giri Suseno and Governor of Jakarta Sutiyoso. The latter two announced that the installation of wide sidewalks in the next financial year will be co-funded by both the central and the Jakarta governments. The Jakarta government taking advantage of the extra funds that will be available to it.
All attention was on Try and reporters asked him questions about what he thought of the brawl at the Golkar Central Java Provincial Congress last week.
“As the Chairman of the Council of Patrons not to mention being a Golkar member, I am disappointed”, said Try “At the same time I would like to point out that Golkar has internal mechanisms with these things and that whatever happens in Golkar has no bearing at all on the conduct of the government’s policies.”
27th February 2000:
It was a tense meeting. On one side of the table were Try, Vice President JB Sumarllin, Chairman of DPR Harmoko, Minister of Home Affairs Harsudiono Hartas and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ginandjar Kartasasmita on behalf of Golkar’s Council of Patrons. On the other were Tutut, Golkar Secretary ZA Maulani, and Golkar Treasurer Akbar Tandjung on behalf of Golkar’s Central Leadership Council, in addition to DPR members Hartono and Ary Mardjono.
In front of this tense audience was Sudharmono. The former vice president, in his capacity as Chairman of the Holding and Overseeing of Golkar Provincial Congresses, presented an account of the events in Semarang.
“It can be concluded that while a brawl has indeed and clearly occurred in the Central Java Provincial Congress, the claims of intimidation remain unsubstantiated. I therefore advice Golkar to stand by the results of its Central Java Congress”, said Sudharmono.
Looks of jubilation appeared on those at Tutut’s side of the table while Try gritted his teeth. Harsudiono spoke up.
“If in future provincial congresses it can be proven that there is intimidation, a report can be given to the Holding and Overseeing of Golkar Provincial Congresses Committee?” asked Harsudiono.
“Of course any evidence can be reported, why wouldn’t it be?” replied Hartono.
The meeting ended with Try saying that any reports of intimidation will be handled by the Holding and Overseeing of Golkar Provincial Congresses Committee and that the result of the Central Java Provincial Congress is valid.
After the meeting, Ginandjar spoke to Sudharmono asking him to remember that he was part of Try’s coalition. Sudharmono said that he still believes Try and Tutut’s situation, not to mention Golkar, is still salvageable.
“Salvageable?” asked Ginandjar “Pak Dhar, we sat across the table just now like two opposing political parties.”
28th February 2000:
In a press conference today, the Leader of Golkar in DPR Irsyad Sudiro said he doesn’t understand why Tutut denies the allegation of members of Golkar being threatened with not being re-elected at the Golkar Central Java Provincial Congress. It’s an open secret that in Jakarta, DPR members are also receiving the same threats. Irsyad then began reading out anonymous letters which he has received in the past few months from DPR members.
Meanwhile, in an interview on Indosiar, Chairman of Muhammadiyah was asked about the “internal tensions” within Golkar.
“Well quite frankly, I’m relieved”, said Amien “It means I can go back to my original purpose of joining in a coalition with the President and that is to stand up to the Chairwoman of Golkar.”
29th February 2000:
Try chaired a cabinet meeting attended by all the ministers. The following occurred:
*As an opening, the President said that what is happening in Golkar has no effect in what the government to achieve. He urged all ministers to continue working as usual.
*The President also guarantees the safety of his ministers and heads of agencies saying that the Military Secretariat has tightened security for ministers and heads of agencies’ safety in the wake of Soegiarto’s assassination.
*The meeting heard from Minister of Economics and National Development Soedradjad Djiwandono who signed Indonesia’s exit agreement from the IMF and said that Indonesia has no obligations left to the IMF other than repaying the IMF debt.
*Soedradjad then went on to explain about the world economy in 2000. The US economy is still growing strong but the US Federal Reserve had increased interest rates 5 times in the last 5 months so that the US economy will get a “soft landing”. Minister of Mining and Energy Djiteng Marsudi piped in and said that oil prices are set to hit at least $30 per barrel this year.
*Sumarlin said that in 1996, the final year before the Asian Financial Crisis, economic growth was 7.8%. It is the President’s target to equal and go beyond this target. It will require departments to find areas to deregulate in order to support and stimulate economic growth.
*The President instructed Minister of Trade Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti to establish trade delegations to travel the world to look for new potential markets for Indonesian exports. In general, the President said that the economy should shift from relying on raw exports. He called upon Minister of Agriculture Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, Minister of Industry Siswono Yudohusodo, and Minister of Mining and Energy Djiteng Marsudi to facilitate the construction of factories or processing plants to add value to Indonesia’s raw products.
1st March 2000:
The President was introduced to Glenn Hoddle, the new Manager of the Indonesian National Football team. The new manager was accompanied by State Minister of Youth and Sports Hajriyanto Thohari and Chairman of KONI IGK Manila. Hajriyanto and Manila also took the opportunity to report about preparations for the National Sports Week which was to be held in June 2000 as well as preparations for the Sydney Olympics in September.
2nd March 2000:
At a DPR hearing, Ginandjar Kartasasmita announced that Indonesia will abstain from the IMF Managing Director’s straw poll to be held tomorrow. Though only an informal poll, the straw poll is taken seriously as a reflection of the support a managing director candidate. There were some questions which focused on the manner of Indonesia’s decision to abstain.
“Three months ago at the Informal ASEAN Summit in Manilla it looked as though the government was positioning itself to lead ASEAN and influence ASEAN’s vote for the IMF Managing Director. Then at the World Economic Forum, the government submitted when Clinton told it to stay away from influencing the contest from the IMF Managing Director. How would you explain that?” asked PDI DPR Member Buttu Hutapea.
“I wouldn’t call it a submission, I would call it taking a deal. In exchange for this abstention, we got the terms of exit from the IMF that we want”, said Ginandjar “That said, we are working on a rorientation of our foreign policy.”
“What kind of a reorientation?” asked Buttu.
“One where we can stand up for ourselves better during such exchanges”, said Ginandjar.
3rd March 2000:
Harmoko, accompanied by a Golkar delegation which included Irsyad Sudiro and Basofi Sudirman visited Bandung, West Java on a visit. Harmoko had Friday prayer and then lunch with Governor of West Java Muzani Syukur and Chairman of West Java DPRD Abdul Nurhaman. Asked what he was doing there, Harmoko said that he wanted to show his support for Abdul Nurhaman who also happened to be the incumbent Chairman of the Golkar West Java Provincial Branch. Abdul Nurhaman will defend his chairmanship at the Golkar West Java Provincial Congress.
Behind the scenes Basofi Sudirman met with members of West Java’s Operation Lifeboat to prepare themselves for the conflict ahead.
4th March 2000:
Though it was a Saturday morning, the President was accompanied by Minister of Public Works Rachmat Witoelar, Edi Sudrajat, and Governor of Jakarta Sutiyoso as he inaugurated the the Jakarta Outer Ring Road’s (JORR) E1, E2, and E3 sections and half of its W2 section. In his speech, Try called on more financing and investment from the private sector to complete this project as well as many other infrastructure projects around the country.
There were other invited guests as well most notably Indra Rukmana, husband of Tutut and CEO of Citra Marga Nusa Persada, whose company had also worked on JORR. He had a picture taken with the President.
On a bus with close associates Golkar Secretary ZA Maulani, Golkar Treasurer Akbar Tandjung, and DPR members Hartono and Ary Mardjono, Tutut listened to the ceremony on radio. She had stayed away, not wanting her present public incarnation as the Chairwoman of Golkar to be tarnished by the fact that she used to be a businesswoman and that she had had a financial stake in JORR’s development. And anyway, she was visiting her supporters in West Java for a secret visit and to prepare them for the Golkar West Java Provincial Congress.
The men around Tutut were confident of her prospects, even when the President had the wherewithal to consolidate his position with a reshuffle, strike a deal with the provinces and ABRI, and fashion together a coalition. “The President controls the present, you control the future”, was how her brother-in-law, the Governor of Central Java calmed her down.
The President’s term was not forever, so ran the argument, and sooner or later he will need to prepare for re-election where he will need a DPR/MPR that would not be hostile towards him to emerge out of the next election election. This will be the occasion for Tutut, as the Chairwoman of Golkar, to make sure that the MPR will be friendly towards her rather than the President by making sure that the DPR members and MPR delegates will support her. Part of improving her leverage with the President was to make sure that she controlled the provincial branches.
While Hartono and Akbar Tandjung discussed about “making mischief” while the President will be out of Jakarta and out of the country, Tutut began thinking about her father. While the value of the Rupiah plunged in the latter half of 1997, Tutut’s father had told her that the time has come for her to forego business and social activities and “serve” the nation. He said that should he be re-elected as president in the 1998 MPR Session, he would like to name Tutut to his cabinet.
But that was before he died and that was before Mas Try took his place.
Tutut’s mistake was thinking that the President would settle for being in office for the 102 days between the moment he took his oath and the moment a president was due to be sworn in at the 1998 MPR Session. She thought that the President would, as people in her circle put it, “know his role” and stand aside for someone else instead of seeking election for a five year term.
It was important that the President did so, not only because it would open the way for her but also because there was overlap between the President’s and her supporters at the MPR Session. Despite Hartono intervening and calling for them to vote for Habibie, most of Tutut’s supporters switched their votes to the President and pushed him over the line against Habibie in the final round of voting.
Tutut had gone over her defeat in 1998 over and over again in her head. Various explanations had been explained to her by her associates but she herself concluded that it was because she was not ready. She was a businesswoman and a philanthropist but she did not have the political experience that a president, a chairman of the DPR, a minister of research and technology would have.
But that was then…the next time she would be prepared. She would claim her place and be in the position where she can provide the greatest service to the people and continue the work her father had begun.
---
Agus Widjojo's father was of course Brig. Gen. Sutoyo Siswomihardjo who was kidnapped and killed by the 30th September Movement.
Pak means father though in this case it is an honorific to an older person. Pak Dhar is Sudharmono's nickname.
Jakartans get JORR 3 years ahead of schedule due to better economic conditions and a more stable currency. Most of the infrastructure projects inaugurated ITTL will be completed ahead of their OTL counterparts.
Just wanted to get a look into Tutut's head and how she expected Try to only be a transitional figure.
With a broad smile on her face, Chairwoman of Golkar Tutut Soeharto handed over the banner of Golkar’s Central Java Provincial Branch to its new Chairman Soewardi as the Golkar Central Java Provincial Congress came to a close.
Elsewhere in Semarang, the now former Chairman of the Golkar Provincial Branch Alip Pandoyo held a press conference in which he said that “Those who supported President Try Sutrisno in Central Java” has been subject to intimidation not only at the congress just finished but in the near 2 years since the 1998 MPR Session. Alip Pandoyo claimed that all those who have abstained in the vote for the chairman’s position have done so because they were told that their re-election prospects in the DPRD in 2002 will be in jeopardy.
21st February 2000:
President Try Sutrisno, accompanied by Minister of Home Affairs Harsudiono Hartas and State Secretary Edi Sudrajat, met with Governor of Central Java Prabowo Subianto. Commander of the Central Java Regional Military Command Endriartono Sutarto and Chief of Central Java Police Dai Bachtiar were also in attendance. Endriartono and Dai Bachtiar reported that the situation had been kept under control and the congress had ended peacefully. Prabowo said that Central Java and its economy is functioning just as normal, what happened at the Golkar Central Java Provincial Congress was an isolated incident.
Try could swear that Prabowo looked a little too happy and he got the sense that Prabowo was trying to see if he was displeased with the results of the Provincial Congress.
Elsewhere Chief of Social-Political Affairs Staff Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was interviewed about ABRI’s stance on the situation at Golkar. Yudhoyono said that he hoped the situation will be handled internally within Golkar and soon. When asked about speculation that he might be the next Chairman of BP-7, Yudhoyono frowned and said he’d still prefer to be an active soldier.
22nd February 2000:
Try met with Commander of ABRI Wiranto this morning. Wiranto came out of it saying to the press that he was there to talk about Chief of Police Luthfi Dahlan and Commander of the Marine Corps Sudarsono Kasdi reaching retirement age. Wiranto also said that the President will continue to retain Army Chief of Staff Agum Gumelar but hasn’t revealed who will be the Chairman of BP-7.
The Attorney General’s Office officially submits its appeal to the Supreme Court regarding the South Jakarta District Court's decision to acquit Tommy Soeharto and Ricardo Gelael in the Bulog landswap case.
23rd February 2000:
In an interview with RCTI, Tutut called on “All elements” within Golkar to maintain the peace and reminded all Golkar members that the provincial congresses are mandated by the 1999 Leadership Meeting and it was her attention to hold all 27 provincial congresses before the year was out. Asked about Alip Pandoyo’s comments, she had this to say:
“First of all, we have to be big hearted. At the Jakarta Provincial Congress, nobody questioned the legitimacy of that congress. Could that be because certain people’s favored candidates emerge victorious? I think we have to be more mature about things if when it comes down to it this is just a matter of whether or not one’s favored candidate emerges victorious.
Secondly, the claim made by Mr. Alip Pandoyo that his supporters had been threatened with not being able to be re-elected at the next election is a comment that is baseless and will remain baseless unless evidence can be produced.”
24th February 2000:
ABRI Headquarters was a buzz of activity as the latest command shuffle was announced which included the following highlights:
*Deputy Commander of ABRI Johnny Lumintang was shifted aside to become the new Governor of Lemhanas.
*The Chief of ABRI Intelligence position, currently held by Ian Santoso Perdanakusuma is upgraded to a three star position
*Commander of National Air Defense Command Chappy Hakim is promoted to the rank of Marshal and is appointed Deputy Commander of ABRI to replace Lumintang.
*Brig. Gen. (Mar.) Harry Triono is promoted to the rank of Major General and becomes the new Commander of the Marine Corps to replace the retiring Sudarsono Kasdi.
*The race for the Army Chief of Staff’s position gets another horse in the form of Yudhomo Sastrosuhardjo who was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed Commander of the Army Education and Training Command.
At the Palace, the President swore in the following:
*Lt. Gen. Agus Widjojo was sworn in as the new Chairman of the BP-7 taking over the position left behind by Soegiarto when he was assassinated two weeks prior.
*Lt. Gen. (Pol) Yuyun Mulyana was promoted to the rank of Police General and appointed as the new Chief of Police to succeed the retiring Luthfi Dahlan.
The President’s keynote address was primariy directed at Agus:
“Mr. Chairman, both your father and your immediate predecessor in your current position died defending Pancasila. I do not wish such fate to befell you but I do wish that their conviction in Pancasila will be an example for you to emulate in your new task.”
25th February 2000:
The President made a sudden appearance at Jalan Sudirman in the middle of Jakarta’s CBD today to inspect the wide sidewalks that had been installed over the last few months. He was accompanied by State Minister of Urban Development Giri Suseno and Governor of Jakarta Sutiyoso. The latter two announced that the installation of wide sidewalks in the next financial year will be co-funded by both the central and the Jakarta governments. The Jakarta government taking advantage of the extra funds that will be available to it.
All attention was on Try and reporters asked him questions about what he thought of the brawl at the Golkar Central Java Provincial Congress last week.
“As the Chairman of the Council of Patrons not to mention being a Golkar member, I am disappointed”, said Try “At the same time I would like to point out that Golkar has internal mechanisms with these things and that whatever happens in Golkar has no bearing at all on the conduct of the government’s policies.”
27th February 2000:
It was a tense meeting. On one side of the table were Try, Vice President JB Sumarllin, Chairman of DPR Harmoko, Minister of Home Affairs Harsudiono Hartas and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ginandjar Kartasasmita on behalf of Golkar’s Council of Patrons. On the other were Tutut, Golkar Secretary ZA Maulani, and Golkar Treasurer Akbar Tandjung on behalf of Golkar’s Central Leadership Council, in addition to DPR members Hartono and Ary Mardjono.
In front of this tense audience was Sudharmono. The former vice president, in his capacity as Chairman of the Holding and Overseeing of Golkar Provincial Congresses, presented an account of the events in Semarang.
“It can be concluded that while a brawl has indeed and clearly occurred in the Central Java Provincial Congress, the claims of intimidation remain unsubstantiated. I therefore advice Golkar to stand by the results of its Central Java Congress”, said Sudharmono.
Looks of jubilation appeared on those at Tutut’s side of the table while Try gritted his teeth. Harsudiono spoke up.
“If in future provincial congresses it can be proven that there is intimidation, a report can be given to the Holding and Overseeing of Golkar Provincial Congresses Committee?” asked Harsudiono.
“Of course any evidence can be reported, why wouldn’t it be?” replied Hartono.
The meeting ended with Try saying that any reports of intimidation will be handled by the Holding and Overseeing of Golkar Provincial Congresses Committee and that the result of the Central Java Provincial Congress is valid.
After the meeting, Ginandjar spoke to Sudharmono asking him to remember that he was part of Try’s coalition. Sudharmono said that he still believes Try and Tutut’s situation, not to mention Golkar, is still salvageable.
“Salvageable?” asked Ginandjar “Pak Dhar, we sat across the table just now like two opposing political parties.”
28th February 2000:
In a press conference today, the Leader of Golkar in DPR Irsyad Sudiro said he doesn’t understand why Tutut denies the allegation of members of Golkar being threatened with not being re-elected at the Golkar Central Java Provincial Congress. It’s an open secret that in Jakarta, DPR members are also receiving the same threats. Irsyad then began reading out anonymous letters which he has received in the past few months from DPR members.
Meanwhile, in an interview on Indosiar, Chairman of Muhammadiyah was asked about the “internal tensions” within Golkar.
“Well quite frankly, I’m relieved”, said Amien “It means I can go back to my original purpose of joining in a coalition with the President and that is to stand up to the Chairwoman of Golkar.”
29th February 2000:
Try chaired a cabinet meeting attended by all the ministers. The following occurred:
*As an opening, the President said that what is happening in Golkar has no effect in what the government to achieve. He urged all ministers to continue working as usual.
*The President also guarantees the safety of his ministers and heads of agencies saying that the Military Secretariat has tightened security for ministers and heads of agencies’ safety in the wake of Soegiarto’s assassination.
*The meeting heard from Minister of Economics and National Development Soedradjad Djiwandono who signed Indonesia’s exit agreement from the IMF and said that Indonesia has no obligations left to the IMF other than repaying the IMF debt.
*Soedradjad then went on to explain about the world economy in 2000. The US economy is still growing strong but the US Federal Reserve had increased interest rates 5 times in the last 5 months so that the US economy will get a “soft landing”. Minister of Mining and Energy Djiteng Marsudi piped in and said that oil prices are set to hit at least $30 per barrel this year.
*Sumarlin said that in 1996, the final year before the Asian Financial Crisis, economic growth was 7.8%. It is the President’s target to equal and go beyond this target. It will require departments to find areas to deregulate in order to support and stimulate economic growth.
*The President instructed Minister of Trade Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti to establish trade delegations to travel the world to look for new potential markets for Indonesian exports. In general, the President said that the economy should shift from relying on raw exports. He called upon Minister of Agriculture Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, Minister of Industry Siswono Yudohusodo, and Minister of Mining and Energy Djiteng Marsudi to facilitate the construction of factories or processing plants to add value to Indonesia’s raw products.
1st March 2000:
The President was introduced to Glenn Hoddle, the new Manager of the Indonesian National Football team. The new manager was accompanied by State Minister of Youth and Sports Hajriyanto Thohari and Chairman of KONI IGK Manila. Hajriyanto and Manila also took the opportunity to report about preparations for the National Sports Week which was to be held in June 2000 as well as preparations for the Sydney Olympics in September.
2nd March 2000:
At a DPR hearing, Ginandjar Kartasasmita announced that Indonesia will abstain from the IMF Managing Director’s straw poll to be held tomorrow. Though only an informal poll, the straw poll is taken seriously as a reflection of the support a managing director candidate. There were some questions which focused on the manner of Indonesia’s decision to abstain.
“Three months ago at the Informal ASEAN Summit in Manilla it looked as though the government was positioning itself to lead ASEAN and influence ASEAN’s vote for the IMF Managing Director. Then at the World Economic Forum, the government submitted when Clinton told it to stay away from influencing the contest from the IMF Managing Director. How would you explain that?” asked PDI DPR Member Buttu Hutapea.
“I wouldn’t call it a submission, I would call it taking a deal. In exchange for this abstention, we got the terms of exit from the IMF that we want”, said Ginandjar “That said, we are working on a rorientation of our foreign policy.”
“What kind of a reorientation?” asked Buttu.
“One where we can stand up for ourselves better during such exchanges”, said Ginandjar.
3rd March 2000:
Harmoko, accompanied by a Golkar delegation which included Irsyad Sudiro and Basofi Sudirman visited Bandung, West Java on a visit. Harmoko had Friday prayer and then lunch with Governor of West Java Muzani Syukur and Chairman of West Java DPRD Abdul Nurhaman. Asked what he was doing there, Harmoko said that he wanted to show his support for Abdul Nurhaman who also happened to be the incumbent Chairman of the Golkar West Java Provincial Branch. Abdul Nurhaman will defend his chairmanship at the Golkar West Java Provincial Congress.
Behind the scenes Basofi Sudirman met with members of West Java’s Operation Lifeboat to prepare themselves for the conflict ahead.
4th March 2000:
Though it was a Saturday morning, the President was accompanied by Minister of Public Works Rachmat Witoelar, Edi Sudrajat, and Governor of Jakarta Sutiyoso as he inaugurated the the Jakarta Outer Ring Road’s (JORR) E1, E2, and E3 sections and half of its W2 section. In his speech, Try called on more financing and investment from the private sector to complete this project as well as many other infrastructure projects around the country.
There were other invited guests as well most notably Indra Rukmana, husband of Tutut and CEO of Citra Marga Nusa Persada, whose company had also worked on JORR. He had a picture taken with the President.
On a bus with close associates Golkar Secretary ZA Maulani, Golkar Treasurer Akbar Tandjung, and DPR members Hartono and Ary Mardjono, Tutut listened to the ceremony on radio. She had stayed away, not wanting her present public incarnation as the Chairwoman of Golkar to be tarnished by the fact that she used to be a businesswoman and that she had had a financial stake in JORR’s development. And anyway, she was visiting her supporters in West Java for a secret visit and to prepare them for the Golkar West Java Provincial Congress.
The men around Tutut were confident of her prospects, even when the President had the wherewithal to consolidate his position with a reshuffle, strike a deal with the provinces and ABRI, and fashion together a coalition. “The President controls the present, you control the future”, was how her brother-in-law, the Governor of Central Java calmed her down.
The President’s term was not forever, so ran the argument, and sooner or later he will need to prepare for re-election where he will need a DPR/MPR that would not be hostile towards him to emerge out of the next election election. This will be the occasion for Tutut, as the Chairwoman of Golkar, to make sure that the MPR will be friendly towards her rather than the President by making sure that the DPR members and MPR delegates will support her. Part of improving her leverage with the President was to make sure that she controlled the provincial branches.
While Hartono and Akbar Tandjung discussed about “making mischief” while the President will be out of Jakarta and out of the country, Tutut began thinking about her father. While the value of the Rupiah plunged in the latter half of 1997, Tutut’s father had told her that the time has come for her to forego business and social activities and “serve” the nation. He said that should he be re-elected as president in the 1998 MPR Session, he would like to name Tutut to his cabinet.
But that was before he died and that was before Mas Try took his place.
Tutut’s mistake was thinking that the President would settle for being in office for the 102 days between the moment he took his oath and the moment a president was due to be sworn in at the 1998 MPR Session. She thought that the President would, as people in her circle put it, “know his role” and stand aside for someone else instead of seeking election for a five year term.
It was important that the President did so, not only because it would open the way for her but also because there was overlap between the President’s and her supporters at the MPR Session. Despite Hartono intervening and calling for them to vote for Habibie, most of Tutut’s supporters switched their votes to the President and pushed him over the line against Habibie in the final round of voting.
Tutut had gone over her defeat in 1998 over and over again in her head. Various explanations had been explained to her by her associates but she herself concluded that it was because she was not ready. She was a businesswoman and a philanthropist but she did not have the political experience that a president, a chairman of the DPR, a minister of research and technology would have.
But that was then…the next time she would be prepared. She would claim her place and be in the position where she can provide the greatest service to the people and continue the work her father had begun.
---
Agus Widjojo's father was of course Brig. Gen. Sutoyo Siswomihardjo who was kidnapped and killed by the 30th September Movement.
Pak means father though in this case it is an honorific to an older person. Pak Dhar is Sudharmono's nickname.
Jakartans get JORR 3 years ahead of schedule due to better economic conditions and a more stable currency. Most of the infrastructure projects inaugurated ITTL will be completed ahead of their OTL counterparts.
Just wanted to get a look into Tutut's head and how she expected Try to only be a transitional figure.