Bringing the past to heel

Bringing the past to heel

Presidential elections in Indonesia may be more than two years
away, but the campaigning has apparently already begun. Within a
matter of hours on Thursday, President Megawati Soekarnoputri
took reformist political steps that are being interpreted as the
most significant the country has seen since the overthrow of
strongman Soeharto in 1998.

Megawati's boldest move was to order the detention of
parliamentary speaker and the head of the powerful Golkar Party,
Akbar Tandjung, over a corruption investigation. Although Akbar
has yet to be charged, the move appears to signal a genuine
attempt to bring Soeharto-era officials to heel.

Akbar was a member of Soeharto's cabinet. He and other
political cronies of the dictator have been the focus of the
public clamor for justice for the extremes of the era. There has
been wide praise for Akbar's detention.

Hours earlier, Soeharto's youngest son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala
Putra, was charged with the murder of a prominent judge. An
appeal against detention by former Soeharto minister and another
Golkar leader, Ginandjar Kartasasmita, was rebuffed. The
Government also rejected a plan to offer leniency to businessmen
who misused more than US$1 billion given as rescue packages in
the 1997 financial crisis. Long-sought reforms of Indonesia's
political, judicial and economic systems have been a long time
coming. Such promises won Megawati the presidency, but little has
changed.

Observers say corruption is still rife and inaction against
the Soeharto family, accused of stealing up to $20 billion from
the impoverished nation's coffers, has been seen as proof of a
lack of resolve.

The optimism from Thursday's moves were diminished on Friday
when a South Jakarta District Court judge rejected prosecutors'
calls to reopen the corruption trial against Soeharto, saying he
was too ill to face charges.

Soeharto's Golkar Party, the second biggest group in
parliament, still holds enormous political and business power in
Indonesia. Many Soeharto associates still hold high office and
their influence is wide-reaching.

Megawati has made moves this week which augur well for
Indonesia's future. Although significant, they are only
incremental steps in a process which needs much resolve and
patience.

If the President is truly dedicated to her nation's future,
she must do her utmost to change a system which for too long has
been making the privileged richer and the poor no better off.
last

-- South China Morning Post, Hong Kong