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