Word: suhartos
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Habibie showed in Indonesia last week, by pretending until the very last minute not to want it. Habibie had been slipped into the No. 2 position of Vice President only 10 weeks ago by his patron of 24 years, the Indonesian strongman he slavishly referred to as S.G.S., Supergenius Suharto. The mere suggestion that Suharto's successor at the height of Indonesia's search for an economic bailout would be a man widely regarded as a free-spending eccentric shocked the bankrupt rupiah into a 36% crash. But Habibie (commonly referred to as B.J.) possesses the one quality Suharto needed...
Late Wednesday night, after Parliament threatened to begin impeachment proceedings and the armed forces commander, General Wiranto, paid a private visit to Suharto's residence, loyalty paid off. The old man was finally stepping down, and Habibie, 61, would take over. Yet even at Thursday morning's hasty ceremony for the handover of power, Habibie kept up his characteristic deference. After a sadly smiling Suharto apologized for his mistakes and announced his resignation, Habibie appeared to hesitate. His mentor gestured with his hand, like a father to a nervous child, and Habibie stepped forward to take the oath of office...
...would it be accepted by anyone outside the presidential palace? To many of the students who celebrated Suharto's departure by dancing for joy in the fountain at the Parliament complex they had occupied for four days, Habibie was a perpetuation of the problem that brought Indonesia to its knees--the authoritarian system of crony capitalism known by its Indonesian acronym of KKN, for corruption, collusion and nepotism. Had all the riots and deaths--more than 500--given Indonesians nothing but a clone of the kleptocrat they had so painfully deposed...
...hours when he faced the first of what will probably be a series of crises that will mark his presidency. Sources close to the President tell TIME that on May 23, Habibie was confronted at his office by Lieut. General Prabowo Subianto, son-in-law of former President Suharto and the head of the powerful Army Strategic Reserve Command. The general "strongly requested" that Habibie name him army chief of staff and replace the chief of the armed forces, General Wiranto, with a Prabowo ally. Frightened, Habibie told the volatile general that promotions were up to the military, and left...
...SUHARTO Indonesia's longtime ruler outlasts his popularity. Should've taken a tip from Seinfeld...