Rubbing Shoulders With Two Presidents
Tom Graciano / Indonesia Media
I’m not a good eater, so I can’t really say anything here about Ibu Tien’s sop ikan. All I can say is that it really tasted very nice. But Ray, being a food connoisseur which was why Time-Life Books awarded him the writing assignment, repeatedly told the first lady the soup “tasted very delicious like no other dish I’d ever tried before.” I hope he meant what he said as Ibu Tien was obviously very delighted to hear such a comment from a world-class gourmet. Needless to say, Ray gave our lunch on Pulau Monyet a sizable coverage in the book with a great emphasis on the sop ikan. The recipe was included, as was the picture I took of the first lady making the sambal.
When lunch was done, we moved over to the chairs by the coffee table. Coffe and tea were served, and the president smoked his favorite cigar. August came over and joined us. That was a great and rare photo opportunity. So Ray, August and myself took our turns to pose with Pak Harto and Ibu Tien. Each of them sat on separate chairs so we placed another chair in the middle where Ray, August and I was seated, one at a time, with the first lady on our right and the president on our left. I took the pictures of Ray and August with the first couple and August took my photo with them.
A week or so after the Pulau Monyet lunch, August wrote a story on page one in Kompas daily. I’m not sure whether it was in its Sunday edition. In fact I’m not even sure if Kompas already had a Sunday edition at the time. I’m talking about June 1969. I can’t remember the tone of August’s coverage of that rare event where the president of the world’s fifth most populous nation posed with a senior reporter from Indonesia ’s major newspaper, wearing only an undershirt above his trousers. My photo with the first couple drew admiration from a lot of friends in Jakarta , Manila , Singapore , Kuala Lumpur and Los Angeles .
In later years of his presidency Pak Harto had an interpreter, Widodo Sutiyo, who became a close friend of mine until now. When I showed him the photo some time in mid 1970s he made this comment, “I’ve been the president’s close assistant for so many years, Tommy, but I don’t have that kind of picture with him.” I had wanted very much to have the photo autographed by the president but never had the opportunity to get this done.
But what man can’t do, with God it’s always possible. Brig. Gen. Ismail Saleh was one of the president’s personal assistants during the early years of Pak Harto’s presidency. I met him and talked with him a few times. As his military rank got promoted to a three-star general, he became the justice minister after which he retired from both government and military service. When I was working again in Jakarta as marketing director of the Mulia Group, one of Indonesia ’s top property-based group of companies, Pak Ismail became chairman of the group’s board of advisors in mid-1990s.
So by the grace of God, our paths met again. I showed him my photo with Pak Harto which also drew his admiration. He asked for a copy of it which of course I gave him. Several weeks later Pak Ismail called me asking me to come over to his office. When I saw him he said, “You remember I asked you for a copy of your pictute with Pak Harto?” I said, “Of course, Pak.” “Well, here it is, I give it back to you, already autographed by Pak Harto.” I was pleasantly surprised and thanked him profusely. The date below the president’s signature indicated 25/8/97 . It was during the time Indonesia was hit by the monetary crisis (krismon) but before Pak Harto stepped down in May 1998.
Back to Pulau Monyet, after the photo sessions we walked around watching those playing on the beach. The president began to be more open to Ray and me speaking to us in English about his hobby to go fishing. There were just the three of us – Pak Harto, Ray and myself -- as Ibu Tien was busy doing something while August probably joined Ita and the children again. Ray and I took turns to snap more pictures of those rare intimate moments with Indonesia ’s new “strong man.”
That was really a far cry from the TV newscast showing the president talking with a foreign dignitary using bahasa Indonesia, with Pak Widodo sitting between them translating what the president said to the guest. This gave the impression as if Pak Harto couldn’t speak English at all. In fact, I think most Indonesians have this impression stuck on their mind. True, every now and then the president would turn to me asking for an English word for something he wanted to say to Ray. But no doubt about it, Pak Harto does speak English. I heard it with my own ears.
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