Critics oppose amnesty plan for Soeharto

Critics oppose amnesty plan for Soeharto

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As Soeharto left hospital on Wednesday after seven days of
treatment for intestinal bleeding, the government has been urged
to bring the former dictator to justice rather than granting him
a possible amnesty for the alleged abuses he committed during his
32-year rule.

"Well, that's a difficult question to answer," noted
sociologist Frans Magnis-Suseno said on Wednesday when asked to
comment on what the government should do to deal with the
unresolved corruption cases against the ailing 83-year old former
president.

He said investigations into Soeharto's crimes must not stop,
although the results should take into account the achievements he
made when ruling the country for 32 years until 1998.

"If there is graft case proven against him, he must return the
ill-gotten money and then it can be forgiven and not be sent to
prison," Magnis told The Jakarta Post.

He said the Soeharto cases should be handled specifically
because he is a former president who had rendered service to the
nation.

According to Magnis, a pardon should be offered only in the
event that Soeharto is found guilty of criminal acts.

However, he stressed that the granting of amnesty should not
be done as a "habit" for common criminals.

With regard to human rights violations during Soeharto's
regime, legal decisions should refer to the aspirations of
victims, Magnis said.

A similar comment was made by Muslim scholar Komaruddin
Hidayat. He said that if the government offered amnesty for
Soeharto, it should involve the public in making such a decision.

"If he (Soeharto) is forgiven, it must be followed with
concrete steps from the government to combat corruption
consistently," Komaruddin said.

Otherwise, the government would lose its credibility in its
national antigraft drive, he added.

He said that if law enforcers could not take Soeharto to court
for health concerns, then "why don't we choose forgiveness" for
the former dictator.

That would be realistic, he added.

Komaruddin claimed that negative public sentiment against
Soeharto was apparently decreasing, while on the other hand
"humanitarian emotion" was taking side with the ailing former
president.

Former president Abdurrahman Wahid had once proposed that
Soeharto be forgiven on the condition that he returned the money
he embezzled to the state.

Ali Sadikin, formerly one of Soeharto's staunchest critics who
visited him at his hospital bed earlier this week, said the ex-
strongman should be tried to uphold justice, but then immediately
forgiven.

Meanwhile, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said there was no need
to grant an amnesty for Soeharto.

"If nothing is filed against him, it means there is also no
case," Kalla exclaimed after visiting Soeharto at the hospital on
Wednesday, accompanied by chief economic minister Aburizal Bakrie
and Minister of Manpower Fahmi Idris.

Former House speaker Akbar Tandjung, who was also among
Wednesday's visitors at Soeharto's hospital bed, declined to
comment on amnesty calls for the former leader.

However, Akbar said that someone who had rendered service to
the nation and the state should be able to live in peace in their
old age.

Soeharto escaped trial for his alleged past crimes after
doctors offered medical evidence stating he was unfit to stand
trial as he could no longer hold or follow normal conversations.

Soeharto left Pertamina Hospital on Wednesday, where he had
been taken last Thursday. He was wheeled out of the hospital at
around 4.40 p.m., accompanied by his oldest daughter Siti "Tutut"
Hardiyanti Rukmana.

A team of Soeharto's doctors said the bleeding had stopped and
his red blood cell count was rising, but his heart and lungs
required continuous monitoring.

Pertamina Hospital director Sutji Astuti Maryono said the
decision to discharge Soeharto was at his own request.