I am not a corruptor: Ginandjar Kartasasmita<\/p>\n
By Kornelius Purba<\/p>\n
TOKYO (JP): Former minister of mines and energy Ginandjar
\nKartasasmita has denied any involvement in the Balongan oil
\nrefinery construction scandal, saying he is not a corruptor.<\/p>\n
\"I am not a corruptor right?\" he told The Jakarta Post last
\nweek when asked about allegations that he played a role in the
\nproject.<\/p>\n
Without elaborating, Ginandjar complained that there were a
\nlot of rumors about him circulating in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Ginandjar, a visiting fellow at Harvard University in the
\nU.S., has been invited by the prestigious Waseda University to
\ngive a series of lectures on \"Governance and the Economic Crisis,
\nthe Case of Indonesia\" until next Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Attorney General's Office has summoned him to
\ntestify over the Balongan scandal and a number of other graft
\ncases. Earlier this month, the office questioned a son of former
\npresident Soeharto, Sigit Hardjojudanto, in connection with the
\nmarking up of the value of the project in Balongan, West Java, by
\nUS$113 million.<\/p>\n
Ginandjar said on Saturday that he had not received a summons.<\/p>\n
He also declined to comment on Attorney General Marzuki
\nDarusman's decision to question him in connection with corruption
\ncases.<\/p>\n
\"I have not received the summons, so I cannot comment at the
\nmoment,\" said Ginandjar, who is also a People's Consultative
\nAssembly (MPR) vice speaker.<\/p>\n
He just laughed when he was told about a media report that he
\nhad recently met with Marzuki in the Netherlands. Ginandjar
\nhinted that he would answer all the allegations and clear his
\nname soon after his upcoming arrival in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Ginandjar's Jakarta-based lawyer Muchyar Yara earlier told
\nreporters that his client would give written a testimony on the
\nalleged graft cases. But on Friday Marzuki insisted that
\nGinandjar should personally come to his office.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the Post after delivering his lecture at the
\nGraduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies at Waseda University on
\nSaturday, Ginandjar said he should return to Jakarta in July to
\nprepare for the MPR annual session. He plans to return soon after
\ncompleting his research at Harvard University, which he started
\nlast September.<\/p>\n
Also the coordinating minister for economy, finance and
\nindustry under president B.J. Habibie, Ginandjar lectures here
\ntwice a week. His 12 students are always outnumbered by local
\nguests attending his classes. Ginandjar, who speaks Japanese
\nfluently, graduated from Tokyo University's School of Agriculture
\nand Technology Chemical Engineering in 1965.<\/p>\n
His Japanese educational background, and his long career in
\nthe Cabinet -- in the position of coordinating minister for the
\neconomy, finance and industry under both Soeharto and Habibie,
\nminister of mines and energy, state minister of national
\nplanning\/head of the National Development Planning Board
\n(Bappenas) and junior minister of domestic production and head of
\nthe Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) under Soeharto -- makes
\nhim still attractive to the Japanese government and business
\ncommunity.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, before ending the three-hour session, Ginandjar
\nalso expressed sympathy for Soeharto and the former first family
\nfor their current troubles. He conceded that he could also be
\npartly blamed for the failure of the Soeharto government in
\nrestoring the economy.<\/p>\n
\"I was also part of the regime,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n
Ginandjar praised the efforts of the current government to
\npunish all those who committed wrongdoings in the past. However,
\nthe former minister also pointed out that Indonesians should
\nconcentrate on building a future and not be trapped by the past.<\/p>\n
He described the government's experience in dealing with the
\nInternational Monetary Fund in overcoming the financial crisis
\nsince 1997 and the fall of Soeharto in May 1998. Ginandjar
\nappeared proud when he described how the economy had clearly been
\non its way to recovery when he was in charge of the economy under
\nthe Habibie government.<\/p>\n
\"The economy was all right but there was a political problem,\"
\nsaid Ginandjar, referring to Habibie's failure in the 1999
\npresidential election.<\/p>",
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