Ailing effects of pardoning Soeharto

Ailing effects of pardoning Soeharto

The Nation, Asia News Network, Bangkok

News that the health of former Indonesian strongman Soeharto
has perked up since Jakarta began debating dropping draft charges
against him hardly comes as a surprise. When it comes to ailing
ex-dictators facing their legal comeuppance, nothing appears to
have quite the same restorative powers as the possibility of a
pardon. The image of former East German leader Erich Honecker
bounding down the stairs of the jet that took him into exile in
Paraguay is an infamous one.

Only hours before, the communist leader, who was blamed for
the order to shoot many of his state's citizens who tried to flee
to the West, as well as the usual hard-man litany of plunder and
human-rights abuses, had been taken to the plane slumped in a
wheel chair.

Like many of his contemporaries who rose to power in the late
sixties or seventies with U.S. backing, among them Ferdinand
Marcos, Augusto Pinochet and Thailand's own Thanom Kittikachorn,
Soeharto came down with a mysterious debilitating illness shortly
after losing his grip on power. It was these medical complaints
that have allowed him to avoid trial for looting the wealth of
Indonesia and a string of human-rights abuses throughout his
three-decade-long rule.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri, whose own father Sukarno
similarly fell ill after being toppled from power, reportedly
wants to abolish the charges against Soeharto on "humanitarian
grounds". The move would also likely make it easier for her and
her businessman husband to deal with the still powerful Soeharto
clan and their allies in business circles, the military and the
different branches of government.

The pro-Soeharto press, notably the Media Indonesia newspaper,
said revoking the charges, which stem from the alleged
misappropriation of more than US$570 million (Bt25 billion) in
funds, would "show that this nation had started to learn how to
appreciate its leaders".

What Megawati, who won the popular vote in the last election,
needs to show is that she has more of an appreciation of
democracy, the rule of law and leaders' obligations to both those
institutions. A pardon for Soeharto would do little but undermine
already weak public confidence in the government's commitment to
the legal code and the notion that their society was somehow
built on the principle of justice.

Soeharto's doctors have said the former president has been
laid low by a variety of complaints since he was toppled in 1997,
ranging from heart to kidney problems, and most recently a life-
threatening bout of pneumonia that allegedly left him unable to
walk, comprehend statements, talk or, again, face trial.

If Soeharto is truly incapable of standing trial then he
should be tried in absentia. A pardon should only be considered
after a verdict is reached at the trial and some progress is made
in returning the $15 billion-odd that Soeharto and his relatives
are believed to have siphoned off during his rule.

The Soeharto trial is important not just because of the
economic and human-rights crimes he allegedly committed but
because of what it says about where the country is headed;
whether it will be ruled at the self-serving whims of the elite
or whether it is making progress on Megawati's promises to herald
in a civil society where everyone is equal under the law.

Megawati's government must demonstrate it is serious about
fighting graft and corruption, including punishing past misdeeds,
before she engages in such "humanitarian" acts.

The evidence so far, however, is that little is changing since
she came to power. Only two weeks ago, a young Indonesian
politician was accused of defamation and now faces more than 10
years in prison for publishing critical views on Megawati's
government.

The foreign business community has essentially given up on
Indonesia. It would be sad if its people did too.