Betrayal and denial before presidents' falls

Betrayal and denial before presidents' falls

Kornelius Purba, Staff Writer, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta,
korpur@yahoo.com

From up close, the last moments of the three former Indonesian
presidents before their humiliating downfall, to a certain extent
recalls to mind the scene of the Last Supper in the New Testament
of the betrayal by Judas Iscariot and the denials of Peter, who
told the Jews, "I don't even know that man!"

In another scene, Pilate washed his hands in front of Jews who
demanded Jesus' death, declaring that he was not responsible for
His death: "I won't have anything to do with killing this man.
You are the ones doing it!"

Soeharto, B.J. Habibie and Abdurrahman Wahid were to blame for
their own downfalls, but they also experienced similar betrayals,
denials and subordinates who washed their hands of the entire
affair.

On the evening of May 20, 1998, hours before he announced his
resignation, Soeharto was practically alone, accompanied only by
his old friends. His Cabinet had virtually collapsed following
the resignation of 14 ministers, led by Ginandjar Kartasasmita
and Akbar Tandjung. Another favorite aide, former information
minister Harmoko, who was appointed by Soeharto as the Speaker of
both the House of Representatives and the People's Consultative
Assembly to protect himself, had also urged Soeharto to resign.

Even then-vice president B.J. Habibie, Soeharto's protege,
reportedly distanced himself from Soeharto that evening, and the
two never met after the Habibie succeeded him on May 21.

Gone were the bootlickers, even those generals who had
decorated Soeharto with an honorary five-star general status.

What happened to Habibie? Golkar chairman and House Speaker
Akbar Tandjung, who was trusted by Habibie to secure his term for
the 1999 to 2004 period, completely failed Habibie. On the
evening of Oct. 19, the Assembly rejected his presidential
accountability report. Habibie was accompanied only by his
brothers, children, wife and one of his nephews. Many of his
confidantes kept their distance that evening upon one pretext or
another.

Akbar was later mobbed by Habibie's supporters, who believed
that he had betrayed the president.

Gone were the president's close aides and businessmen, who had
claimed to be either Habibie's adopted son or nephew.

Habibie's successor Abdurrahman Wahid, or Gus Dur, was the
country's first democratically elected president. Despite his
physical constraints and lack of real political power in the
Assembly, he defeated the favorite, Megawati Soekarnoputri, in
the presidential election in October 1999, and his old friend
Megawati became his vice president.

Many believed that Abdurrahman's biggest enemy was not
Megawati, the Indonesian Military (TNI) or anyone else, but his
own mouth. His controversial remarks and confrontational
approaches toward the House and political parties cost him the
presidency.

He also sacked ministers as easily as he appointed them. His
victims included ministers Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Agum
Gumelar, Laksamana Sukardi and Kwik Kian Gie.

When the Assembly impeached Abdurrahman on July 22, 2001, the
sense of betrayal was not as strongly felt as it had been by his
two predecessors. Hundreds of non-governmental organization (NGO)
activists were with him on the eve of July 21, although very few
of his ministers were with him that night, including foreign
minister Alwi Shihab.

When Abdurrahman refused to leave the Merdeka Palace after his
fall, his friend, the U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul
Wolfowitz, arranged a face-saving visit to the U.S.

Indonesia has attempted to reform the country for the five
years since the fall of Soeharto on May 21, 1998.

Many have blamed Soeharto for being unable to overcome or to
control the greediness of his six children, who wanted to control
all kinds of businesses, from the intra-city toll road and the
oil industry, to orange groves and taxi companies. His cronies
have cost the state hundreds of trillions of rupiah in losses.

All of his successors, including President Megawati, vowed not
to repeat Soeharto's incompetence in handling the vested
interests of people around them. All of them vowed to clean the
state secretariat and the presidential office from corrupt
officials. They also pledged not to allow family members or close
friends to run businesses, and boasted that they would not let
the people around them take advantage of them and their position.
Their intentions were glorious and ideal.

But what have they done?

Habibie was almost humiliated by an unknown organization that
won his blessing to establish the Habibie Art Award. He later
found out that the people who had come to him were crooks, and
was reportedly upset with the aide who arranged the meeting.
Further, his decision to allow a referendum in East Timor remains
a mystery. There are rumors that he was encouraged to take the
historic decision not by his Cabinet ministers, but by people in
his inner circle.

As for Abdurrahman Wahid, judging from his impressive track
record as the chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), there were
high expectations that he would be able to create a corruption-
free government. He sacked many state secretariat officials and
appointed a journalist to head the presidential office. He
promised that he would only use commercial flights for his
overseas trips.

True, his family remained clean during his presidency. But his
daughters and wife know very well how many people around
Abdurrahman had abused his trust to further their own interests.

Megawati, on the other hand, openly asked her husband Taufik
Kiemas and their three children to stay away from any state-
related business activities. Certainly, her brothers and sisters
have not taken advantage of her position for their own benefit so
far, and to illustrate this point, one of her stepbrothers still
works as an ordinary civil servant at the State Secretariat.

In the early days of her presidency, Megawati also declared
that she would not let protocol or bureaucratic rules keep her
from the people. But her presidential style has become similar to
that of Soeharto, and many doubt she will be successful in
preventing her trusted aides and friends from tarnishing her
name.

The failure to control their close aides has been among the
many factors that contributed to the fall of the past three
presidents -- many also point to the turbulence of the times that
they faced.

Still, these trusted aides betrayed them at the most crucial
moment of their presidency -- and if Megawati is not careful, she
may also confront her own Judas, Peter and Pilate.