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Rubbing Shoulders With Two Presidents
Ton Graciano/Indonesia Media
 Pak Harto and Ibu Tien, follolwed by their six teenaged children, soon emerged from the house accompanied by a few other aides. There were a number of cars parked in the front yard, one of them, as far as I can remember, a left-hand-drive black Mercedes 220S. Probably instructed by Ibu Tien, Mas Dipo told Ray and me to get into the back seat of the black Mercedes.
To my and Ray’s great surprise, it was Pak Harto himself who sat on the driver’s seat with Ibu Tien sitting next to him. And the president was clad only in his undershirt – it wasn’t even a T-shirt, it was just a singlet – and trousers, wearing a pair of sandals. Ray and I sat on the rear seat with another person. I don’t remember who it was, but I think, and logically speaking, it must have been Colonel Eddie. The small convoy of just a few cars pulled out of the Jalan Cendana residence just before eight.
 Pak Harto was confirmed by the MPRS to become Indonesia’s second president in March 1968, after being acting president for one year. It was fifteen months before that Sunday morning ride Ray and I had the great honor of taking with the first couple. They were both very humble and simple, and on that occasion did away with all rules of protocol. Ahead of us was a jeep with military policemen but they were not blowing their siren at all. Our Mercedes driven by the president followed the jeep. Behind us were three or four other vehicles carrying the children, Ita, August and other aides and military policemen.
 The trip to Sindang Laut, formerly known by its Dutch name Jacht Club, east of Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok harbor, took about 45 minutes. Traffic at the time was not as bad as Jakarta’s heavily-congested traffic of today, especially on a Sunday morning. The president and Ibu Tien spoke to each other in Javanese a few times, but other than that we were all quiet during the ride.
Upon arriving in Sindang Laut, we all boarded the president’s yacht christened Kunti. Somebody told me later it was the name of a key character, Dewi Kunti, in the great Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. Ray and I got our second surprise that morning when Pak Haro himself stood behind the helm of the yacht to steer her towards Pulau Monyet, one of the islands in the Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Islands Group) in the Jakarta Bay.
As I look back to that day now, I realize God had given me a rare opportunity, along with Ray, Ita and August, not only to rub shoulders with the new head of state of the world’s fifth most populous country in the world. Much more than that, we were witnessing how this new leader, a former army general, with his wife and children, showed us their true, inborn character of humility and simplicity. I have no idea for how long the Suhartos were as humble and simple as they were on that beautiful Sunday morning along their life’s journey to more power, fame and wealth.
 We landed on Pulau Monyet around ten o’clock. The island was small and gave me an impression nobody lived there except a dozen or so people guarding it and the jetty. I saw two or three simple living quarters and a large common kitchen. Ibu Tien got busy with her preparation of the sop ikan which she promised Ray and I could taste. The children, Ita and another aide, not Col. Eddie, were putting on their beachwears. They were swimming and playing on the beach which had clean white sand. The rest of us adults were just walking or standing around, looking for an opportunity to talk to to the president.
I saw Ibu Tien making sambal (chili sauce) on a portable millstone. I took a picture which was later used in the book. Soon lunch time came. There was a dining table with six chairs set in the open air away from the living quarters. Nearby was a coffee table with three or four chairs. There were a couple of long wooden benches too. Ray and I were seated at the dining table with the president, Ibu Tien and two gentlemen. They were later revealed to me one as an army doctor and the other as a golfing friend of the president. Ita joined the children having their lunch sitting on the beach, with the presidential aides. I think August did too.
During lunch the president and the first lady were really playing their perfect role as a couple of gracious hosts telling the four of us their guests to try each and every one of the food items on the table. There was rice, of course, with various kinds of fish, vegetables, chicken, eggs and Ibu Tien’s sop ikan or fish soup, the president’s favorite dish that got Ray and me to that memorable lunch in the first place. Ray surprised everybody at the table with his great appetitte for the hot sambal Ibu Tien made. The president didn’t speak much to Ray and me except to say “please” every time he pointed his right index finger to a specific food item he wanted us to scoop into our plates. Ibu Tien said more words to us in English, especially when giving me the recipe for her sop ikan which I made a note of on my scratch pad.
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