Jakarta – A year after Indonesia's long-time president Suharto handpicked his protege B.J. Habibie to succeed him, the German-trained technocrat is still battling to shed his image as the former strongman's "favorite child", analysts say.
Habibie himself said after taking power on May 21, 1998, that he was aware of questions about the legitimacy of his presidency.
Many gave him only a few months in power. But last Friday the ruling Golkar party, Suharto's former political vehicle, endorsed him as its sole candidate for the presidency in November.
"For me, and I think for many others, Habibie is still part of the status quo," political scientist Kusnanto Anggoro said.
Students, whose daily mass protests last year contributed to the resignation of Suharto, have also been relentless in their demand for Habibie to step down and give way to a transitional authority before a "true" election.
Fresh calls for Habibie to resign rang out in the streets of Jakarta last week when thousands of students staged a bus-motorcade on May 12, the first anniversary of the killing of four university students by Indonesian security forces.
"Habibie can claim that he is no longer linked to Suharto, but as his former pupil Habibie's political thinking pattern will not fall far from the pattern of his teacher," political analyst Riswanda Imawan said in the Tempo weekly.
"He was Suharto's favorite 'child' and this image is difficult to erase," Moslem academic Nurcholis Majid said.
In 1974, Suharto lured Habibie back from German industrial group Messerschmitt and put him on industrialisation duty while holding his hand amid the Indonesian political jungle.
He rose to become minister of research and technology and was vice-president when Suharto resigned.
During his year in the presidency, Habibie has lifted restrictions on the press and on freedom of association and released scores of political prisoners, some of whom had languished in jails for three decades.
He has issued or helped the issuance of 261 new laws and regulations as part of his pledge of wide-ranging reforms, including the easing of restrictions on political parties and elections.
His government has pledged a free and fair election on June 7. These will allow the People's Consulative Assembly, the highest legislative body, to be formed to pick a new president and vice president for the next five-year term in November.
Habibie has also offered autonomy to the former Portuguese colony of East Timor and pledged to grant independence if a UN-monitored poll in the province on August 8 shows its people want it.
Habibie's officials claim the economic crisis which has crippled the country since mid-1997 has now bottomed out and the economy is now picking up. They cite lower inflation and a stronger rupiah.
"Fine, he has done things, but when you really look at them there has been no real change in the main important issues," Anggoro said.
"One of the main popular demands, the fight against corruption including an investigation of Suharto, has gone nowhere and leaves much to be desired."
Imawan, from Gajah Mada state university in Yogyakarta, said "the aroma" of corruption and nepotism – a trademark of the Suharto era – had begun "to waft out of Habibie's government." This prompted further doubt about his reform credentials.
To the disgust of the general public, reports have surfaced that government officials diverted part of the World Bank loans to help those hardest hit by the crisis.
"We are all certain that Habibie has a clear vision of how to achieve progress for Indonesia ... in the future," Golkar chairman Akbar Tanjung said Friday announcing his candidacy.
Anggoro said that, on paper, Habibie would have no trouble getting the necessary votes in the People's Consulative Assembly for his next term if Golkar retained a clear majority in the June election.
But three major political parties headed by or linked to his three main rivals, reformist leaders Amien Rais, Megawati Sukarnoputri and Abudrrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, have said they will cooperate to prevent a Golkar victory.