Probing Soeharto Inc.<\/p>\n
President B.J. Habibie's response to the nation-wide clamor
\nfor an investigation into the wealth of former president
\nSoeharto, his family and cronies is not the kind of action
\ndemanded by the people. The investigation, as disclosed by
\nAttorney General Soedjono C. Atmonegoro in a studiously worded
\nstatement to the mass media Monday, seems to be already defect by
\nits design.<\/p>\n
Although we welcome Soedjono's reaffirmation that rule of law
\nand the presumption of innocence will be upheld during the
\ninvestigation, we have doubts about the credibility of the
\ninvestigators.<\/p>\n
The investigation is being conducted only by officials from
\nthe attorney general's office in cooperation with related
\ngovernment offices. Missing from the investigation team are
\nauditors from the Supreme Audit Agency and independent analysts
\nwith the technical competence needed to look into numerous
\ndocuments and complicated financial reports to uncover the truth.<\/p>\n
We are already all too familiar with the utterly poor record
\nof the attorney general's office in pursuing corruption cases. It
\nwas, after all, subordinated to the wishes of Soeharto during his
\nmore than 32 years in power. Although domestic and international
\nsurveys have voted the Indonesian government as one of the most
\ncorrupt in the world, very few major graft cases have so far been
\nbrought to court.<\/p>\n
The fact that Soedjono's statement did not mention anything
\nabout President Habibie himself also adds to our doubts. We get
\nthe impression that Habibie may escape the investigation
\naltogether, though he is widely reported to have built a vast
\narray of more than 80 businesses for his family. Many of these
\nare based in Batam island, a special economic zone southeast of
\nSingapore which has been under the virtual control of the Habibie
\nfamily since the mid-1970s. So far, Habibie has yet to produce
\ndocumented evidence belying media reports on what has been dubbed
\nas \"Habibie Inc.\". He has, instead, always imposed the burden of
\nproof on his critics.<\/p>\n
It is most urgent to quickly establish the credibility of the
\ninvestigation team from the outset to cool down the hurly-burly
\nof the current movement against nepotism, corruption, collusion
\nand crony capitalism. The fury directed against Soeharto, stoked
\nby the almost daily reports uncovering his huge business empire,
\nmay run out of control to the degree that people may look to take
\nthe law into their own hands.<\/p>\n
We cannot afford this kind of frenzy because it would
\nliterally affect just about every sector in the economy since it
\nis being discovered that Soeharto's family and cronies are
\nengaged in businesses ranging from satellite communications,
\npower, toll roads and document printing to oil and gas,
\ntransportation, food, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals and
\nplantations, to name just a few.<\/p>\n
An indiscriminate dismantling of the Soeharto business empire,
\nwhich includes joint ventures with foreign investors from around
\nthe world and companies listed on stock exchanges, could become a
\ndisastrous distraction. We cannot afford such confusion,
\nespecially now when the nation badly needs to revive the business
\nsector, attract new investments and woo ethnic Chinese
\nbusinesspeople to bring their capital back home. The banking
\nindustry, already crippled under a huge burden of bad loans,
\ncould plunge into total collapse in view of the extensive
\nexposure of the Soeharto business empire to private and state
\nbanks.<\/p>\n
Soedjono did not elaborate on his investigation team's agenda,
\nbut in view of the explosive allegations of pervasive corruption
\nagainst Soeharto, the attorney general should obviously give top
\npriority to probing the Soeharto family's wealth to ascertain
\nwhether their riches -- estimated between US$20 billion and $40
\nbillion -- were amassed through corruption and other forms of
\nmalfeasance. Next on the agenda should be the riches and
\nbusinesses of President Habibie and his family. But most
\nimportantly, as we asserted at the outset, the investigation team
\nmust be perceived by the public as credible.<\/p>\n
But to put the issue of nepotism, corruption, collusion and
\ncrony capitalism into the right perspective, the attorney
\ngeneral's investigation, which may take months or even years to
\ncomplete, should be separated from more urgent measures dealing
\nwith the murky businesses which form a big chunk of Soeharto Inc.
\nThese measures should fall under the reform actions being taken
\nby various ministries, state companies and local administrations
\nto improve overall economic efficiency and create a level playing
\nfield for businesses.<\/p>\n
The government and state companies could simply refer to
\nexisting laws and regulations in dealing with or abolishing
\nmonopolies, cartel-like businesses, rent-seeking practices,
\nspecial favors and licenses, tax exemptions and contracts awarded
\nwithout competitive bidding. After all, these kinds of shady
\ndeals are clearly market distortions which are supposed to be
\nabolished under the reform package agreed to with the
\nInternational Monetary Fund.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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