Cage for Soeharto

If everything goes according to plan, one of world's former richest and most powerful people, according to Forbes magazine, will soon be put in a "cage" in his own house. In other words, placed under house arrest.

Following his forced resignation three years ago, former president Soeharto has been under investigation by the Attorney General's Office for abuse of power and practicing corruption, collusion and nepotism. The task has been taken on by the police.

International networks already predict that the former dictator will be tried by a special court within two month's time. The police are taking no chances and have imposed a ban on Soeharto from leaving his bedroom. He is said to be confined to his bed with symptoms of Parkinson's disease and also suffering from brain damage, at least according to his lawyers. Maybe its just to scare away the law.

Whether genuine or just a political trick to impress the media, the 79-year old man has had to face a barrage of questions from officers of the Attorney General Office, and later from the police, to which he has mostly responded with a hardly audible: "I cannot remember the details, it has been so long ago".

Often during the ordeal, a medical team has had to intervene, at the request of Soeharto's highly paid lawyers, to prevent him from losing consciousness. His blood pressure once rose to 190.

"And where do you hide your money, overseas or under the Bengawan Solo River?" "Why don't you ask the Swiss ambassador about it?", his lawyers would interrupt.

Originally, there were plans to remove the ailing man to other locations, even to the island of Onrust, to hide him from the marauding student hordes who consider the trial too slow, too late and too full of pretense on the part of the investigators. The students do not believe that Soeharto will ever be tried by a court of justice in an earnest manner. He still wields immense power and has people loyal to him, including high-ranking officials, if not the Attorney General himself.

President Abdurrahman Wahid has repeatedly assured the former president he is willing to forgive him. What else does he need?

To be very rich and to be president of your country is not everything in the world without truly sacrificing for your people.

GANDHI SUKARDI

Jakarta