Criminal issues pile up
I have not troubled your columns for the past three years, since Soeharto was toppled, although there have been a hundred "sensitive" issues on which I would have liked to comment upon. However, as an expatriate guest in your country for the past 20 years or so, I deemed it wiser to remain silent and to let your prolific, regular Indonesian contributors express their opinions on the country's unhappy socio-economic situation and the shortcomings of the President, most of which I agree with.
Now, however, perhaps I can break my silence and speak of what I believe are non-controversial matters: the Attorney General's Office and the Police. I think that it is universally agreed by the thinking public that they do a poor job. The former is forever summoning people (e.g. Mbak. Tutut, the eldest daughter of former president Soeharto) for lengthy questioning and then, despite their obvious criminality, releases them into obscurity. The guilty go unpunished. Why? I think we all have our own ideas as to why.
What about retired General Wiranto? As head of the Indonesian military at the time, he clearly knew of the plans for genocide and mayhem which followed East Timor's overwhelming vote for independence. Preparing, training and arming the militia to do their dirty work was a major undertaking by the Army, and if the Army's boss did not know about it, he had no right to be commander in chief of the military (under the then president B.J. Habibie, of course, whom the military told to offer the East Timorese the choice - autonomy or independence). Where does he stand now?
The list is endless. And now the police. Whatever happened to Tommy? We haven't heard a word about him and the police search for him, for some time now. Have the police just given up the chase and admitted that he has outwitted them? Is he now laughing his head off in some safe refuge, under an assumed name and enjoying his ill-gotten billions of dollars?
It would be nice to know the truth. Meanwhile, what of his wife, who has been "grilled", but continues to live in luxury.
Finally, what of Soeharto himself? The world and his wife knows that he sequestered billions of dollars, yet his trial hinges on a fleabite of about US$571,000. And what does he do?
He pleads sick, which is confirmed by his own medical team and a so-called team of "independent experts". The last straw is the new justice and legislation minister Lopa's announcement that Soeharto will not be brought to trial until he is fit. Well Soeharto is no fool - he can go on feigning sickness till he dies. And what will happen to his hidden wealth then?
It's all very depressing.
JAMES RICHARDS
Jakarta