But Suharto is 76 years old, and although it looks likely he will run for another five-year term in the 1998 elections, the world is starting to get nervous about the future of Indonesia. The Economist magazine published an 18 -page survey on Indonesia titled "Suharto's end-game" (July 26th 1997), in which it named several possible candidates for succeeding Suharto. Among those featured as leading candidates were Suharto's oldest daughter, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana (nicknamed "Tutut"), and Bucharuddin Jusuf Habibie, the long-time minister of research and technology, and current Vice President Try Sutrisno.
However, each of these candidates is seriously flawed. Tutut is a popular figure nowhere but her own mind, and perhaps that of her father's. The First Family has been accused of wholesale corruption and nepotism, and these accusations have tarnished her image immeasurably. Are the accusations true? It's difficult to judge what is legal and not when control of the business climate largely rests in the hands of Suharto. However, his six children and their spouses control companies in a wide array of industry: electricity, toll roads, banking, food, telecoms, newspapers, shipping and many others. Although ethnic Chinese businessmen control over three-quarters of Indonesia's 140 largest companies, the Suharto family rules over most of the rest. As an example, the government decided to create a "national car," and the company given exclusive rights to produce the car is headed by Hutomo Mandala Putra, one of Suharto's children. Tutut is involved in similar dealings, and although her political ambitions are as hot as Indonesia's summer, her political prospects are likely to be shorter lived than a snowball there.
Bucharuddin Jusuf Habibie, the long-time minister of research and technology, has made a raft of highly intelligent policy decisions for Indonesia. His investment policies, especially in the wake of the Indonesian oil boom of the early 1970s when cash flow was high, paid off in terms of economic growth. However, he has had some notable flops as well. The original idea for the national car was his, and, despite a close partnership with South Korean car giant Kia, the car project is bleeding money. But that's only a flesh wound compared to Habibie's national airplane project, which is hemorrhaging so badly any rational policy doctor would have called time of death long ago. Habibie is smart, but he tends to overestimate Indonesia, and he tries too hard to act as if it were a superpower. Indonesia is populous, but it is still relatively poor, and giant projects such as his nuclear power project seem quixotic. Although he has been close to Suharto for years, these poor policy decisions have cast doubt on his ability to lead the nation.
