Passing of Suharto Era Met With Indifference

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Slowly, and mostly indifferently, the news of President Suharto’s resignation filtered Thursday through the sieve of narrow alleys and lanes of the impoverished kampong slums where most residents of this Asian capital live.

At least in these poor neighborhoods, there was little of the celebration--no fireworks, exchange of candy, or arguments between supporters and detractors--that normally accompanies political change of such significance in the world.

In part, this might be because Indonesia is so unaccustomed to change. The world’s fourth most populous country has had only two leaders in the past half-century--Suharto for 32 years of that time and Sukarno for the rest.

Its latest chief, President B. J. Habibie, today named a new Cabinet that kept some Suharto appointees but dropped others, such as Suharto’s daughter, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana. Otherwise, Habibie has done little to stir things up, issuing a statement Thursday that praised his predecessor and promised to run a clean government and honor Indonesia’s commitments to the international community about fixing its economy.

The world, especially the United States and international financial powers, was taking a cautious measure of the changes here, even as the opposition in Indonesia said it would try to make things work.

As for the laconic reaction in this place, people who know it well say the emotionless response is typical of this island, Java, the political and economic center of the Indonesian archipelago.

Even Suharto’s terse resignation early Thursday was delivered practically deadpan. He apologized for mistakes he had made, wished his country well and said goodbye. No tears. No complaints.

Yusup, 55, a retired railroad freight worker, learned of the ignominious end of Suharto’s three decade reign while he was frying bananas in front of his one-room hut in North Jakarta, where he lives with his wife, four children, four grandchildren and son-in-law.

“I felt nothing when I heard,” said Yusup, a short, wiry man who, like many Indonesians, uses only one name. “It’s not going to change my life one way or the other. My whole life, I’ve lived the same way. No better. No worse.”

Now that he is retired with no pension, Yusup said his sole source of income comes from selling the caramel-coated fried bananas to neighbors for the equivalent of 3 cents apiece.

“Bapak is gone,” a customer casually told him, using the fond nickname, which means “father,” that many Indonesians--most of whom have never known another leader--use to describe Suharto.

Two hours later, Yusup’s son-in-law, Suprapto, 32, received the news from a neighbor.

The main family wage earner, Suprapto has worked for the last eight years as a construction supervisor, helping build several of the gleaming hotels and office buildings that form the modern Jakarta skyline only a few miles away from his slum.

But because of Indonesia’s collapsed economy, which, in less than one year, has seen per-capita income fall from $1,200 to $290 a year, he was laid off by his employer last week. “Construction materials are too expensive now,” Suprapto said. “And there is no money available.”

He figured that, like himself, Suharto was also a victim of the fallen economy: “There is a strong connection between the resignation and the money situation.”

Like his father-in-law, Suprapto, said he had low expectations of change, at least in the short term, now that Suharto has exited. Habibie is a Suharto crony and member of the same ruling Golkar party.

But unlike his more pessimistic in-law, Suprapto saw one ray of hope. “My dream,” he said, “is for a leader to come up from the ordinary people, not from Golkar and Golkar alone.”

His choice for this job? Megawati Sukarnoputri, 50, daughter of the late leader Sukarno. She did not exactly rise up from the masses. Still, because she has been an advocate for them, she is beloved by millions of the lower class.

Those looking for a more emotional reaction needed to go to the national parliament grounds in southern Jakarta, where thousands of university students had been camping for days demanding Suharto’s departure.

When they were told over loudspeakers of Suharto’s resignation, many of the youths--buoyed by the impression that they had been the main catalyst for his ouster--jumped for joy, tossing their school blazers high in the air. Several hundred jumped into a long fountain and chanted demands that Suharto be hanged from the country’s national monument.

These were the dramatic images of pleasure--contrasting with the dull thud with which the news was greeted in the slums--that were broadcast around the world. Several television crews even jumped into the filthy fountain waters with the students to get a better angle as the students frolicked.

Martin Hariman, 31, a native of Sumatra who works in Jakarta at the Bank of Indonesia, showed up at the parliament wearing a T-shirt adorned with the image of opposition leader Amien Rais, a U.S.-educated academic who has emerged as a potential national leader, building on his base as head of a large Muslim organization.

Hariman said he favors Rais because “he is clean, clever and educated.” Hariman said he wanted to thank the students for their vanguard role in Suharto’s ouster.

But a much more common reaction in Jakarta on Thursday was indifference, tinged with cynicism. After impassively watching the resignation announcement on the television of his small restaurant near the presidential palace, the owner grunted and stared at the two photographs of Suharto and then-Vice President Habibie that hung on one wall. “I guess I’ll have to take down one of the pictures,” he said, breaking into a smile.

* LEADER’S PLEDGE: President B. J. Habibie promises a clean government. A20

* BUSINESSES CAUTIOUS: Firms take a wait-and-see approach to the new regime. D1