Habibie and Soeharto<\/p>\n
During the Soeharto regime, the people were witness to at
\nleast five categories of deceptive information -- regarding the
\nwealth of government officials and their families, politics,
\ncultural and social values, justice and economic conditions. Such
\na situation, obviously, cannot be allowed to continue, for unless
\nall this is abandoned by the current government, people will
\nnaturally assume that Habibie and his cabinet ministers, and his
\nmilitary commanders as well are still toiling in the shadow of
\nSoeharto.<\/p>\n
The past three months -- plus the availability of
\nsophisticated means of communications, well-trained financial
\nexperts, good lawyers and a professional military and police
\nforce -- have not been enough for the government to investigate
\nthe wealth accumulated by Soeharto and his family and that of the
\nbusiness tycoons who all have helped to swell Indonesia's private
\ndebt burden to tens of billions of U.S. dollars.<\/p>\n
If more valuable time is intentionally wasted with the aim
\nthat Indonesians will forget the past, we will all be in for a
\nblow. The people have suffered for too long and have become
\nextremely sensitive. The tiniest spark may be sufficient to
\nignite a conflagration, and the most insignificant clash could
\nget blown up into a ferocious upheaval.<\/p>\n
The public would then assume that the new head of state, named
\nto hastily replace Soeharto, has turned out to lack in
\nprofessionalism. This is, perhaps, the reason why (Moslem
\nintellectual) Dr. Nurcholish Madjid criticized President Habibie
\nfor having been unable, in this time of crisis, to communicate
\nwith popular leaders such as Gus Dur, Megawati Soekarnoputri and
\neven with Amien Rais, who was one of his associates in the
\nAssociation of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals.<\/p>\n
If Habibie feels closer to the remaining members of the old
\n(Soeharto) clique rather than to the reformers -- who are certain
\nto eventually become the main pillars of Indonesia's future --
\nthen no one can blame the Indonesian people for not wanting to
\nsee Habibie, or his kin, at the top of the Indonesian power
\npyramid.<\/p>\n
-- Merdeka, Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/habibie-and-soeharto-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }