Antigraft groups say show habibie the door

Antigraft groups say show habibie the door

JAKARTA (JP): Major anticorruption groups are urging the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) not to reelect President
B.J. Habibie on Wednesday in order to jump start the prolonged
campaign to root out rampant corruption in the country.

"The first step to root out corruption and abuse of power is
to vote Habibie out of power," said Albert Hasibuan of the
prestigious Gempita anticorruption movement.

"He's a symbol of the past, very much tainted by corruption."

Albert said that during the 17 months of the Habibie
administration, the problem of corruption did not subside but
worsened, reflected in the higher country risks for Indonesia set
by international rating agencies.

Albert was speaking in a panel discussion on corruption
attended by various anticorruption organizations, including
Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), the Indonesian Transparency
Society and the Center for Banking Crisis.

The rejection by anticorruption movements is the latest of a
series of public repudiations of Habibie's determined bid to stay
in power.

His accountability speech last week met with widespread
disapproval from political parties, independent experts and the
public.

Anticorruption groups and several legislators have lambasted
Habibie for failing to fight corruption, especially for his
government's decision to suspend the corruption investigation
into former president Soeharto.

Habibie stepped into the shoes of his mentor Soeharto, who
resigned in May 1998 amid pressure from mass student
demonstrations, unrest and the deepening economic crisis.

MPR, the country's highest legislative body, will vote on
Tuesday on whether to reject or accept the speech. A rejection
of the account would seriously undermine Habibie's presidential
bid.

Coordinator of ICW Teten Masduki said that fighting corruption
in the country was a mammoth task because the problem plagued
almost all sectors, government institutions and private business
through a patronage-client system built up during the 32 years of
Soeharto's authoritarian rule.

Teten called Soeharto's government the best corruption
institution established in the world because he was able to gain
the support of the bureaucracy, legislature, crony businesspeople
and the military during the lengthy period in power.

He explained that corruption in such a situation could only be
eradicated by first replacing the old regime with a completely
new and clean government.

Teten alleged that Habibie was a major player in the corrupt
regime for more than 20 years.

During the gathering, a document was released by a participant
which contained a summary of the October 11th issue of the German
weekly Der Spiegel. It alleged that Habibie received some DM
200,000 in 1993 from Germany's Ferrostaal in its bid to secure
contracts from Indonesian state company PT Krakatau Steel.

Habibie's close aide, Minister of Trade and Industry Rahardi
Ramelan, was also reported by the magazine to have received the
same amount from the firm.

"I'm very concerned about concerted efforts currently launched
to revive the old corrupt government," Teten said, pointing to
Habibie's political maneuvering to retain power and his decision
to pick Indonesian Military chief Gen. Wiranto as his vice
presidential candidate.

"They are going all out to gain as much support as possible
and to bankroll this effort they have to raise as much funds as
possible, including from corruption."

Habibie and his camp have promoted the Habibie-Wiranto ticket
in a bid to gain military support. They have also touted Golkar
Party chairman Akbar Tanjung as Megawati Sukarnoputri's ideal
vice presidential candidate.

Megawati is Indonesia's most popular presidential candidate.
Her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) won
almost 35 percent of the vote in the June general election.

Wiranto said on Monday in a televised address that he had not
been contacted by anyone from the Habibie camp, and held no
interest for the time being in supporting any presidential
candidate.

The meeting of anticorruption organizations also expressed
great concern over "money politics" in the presidential election
after several MPR members said that some Rp 1.2 trillion was
allegedly allocated to buy MPR votes for Habibie.

"This money politics is very difficult to prove... partly
because bribes money are no longer transferred through banks but
given in cash," Teten said.

The anticorruption groups acknowledged that rooting out
corruption would be a long fight.

"We're determined to maintain our stamina because we realize
from the outset that this will be a long fight," said secretary-
general of the Indonesian Transparency Society Erry Riyana
Hardjapamekas. (rei)