Does Habibie have the guts to probe Soeharto's wealth?
Does Habibie have the guts to probe Soeharto's wealth?
By Aleksius Jemadu
JAKARTA (JP): The controversy surrounding the investigation
into Soeharto's alleged ill-gotten wealth is garnering lots of
public attention. Many are cynical on President B.J. Habibie's
ability to conduct such an investigation objectively. After all,
he and most of his Cabinet members owe gratitude to Soeharto for
their career.
Some of them benefited immensely from Soeharto's authoritarian
and corrupt regime. Habibie does have the legal authority to
bring Soeharto to court but, taking into account the very real
presence of some "Soehartoist elements" in his Cabinet and the
fact that the President himself was one of the main beneficiaries
of Soeharto's regime, does he have sufficient moral authority to
clean up all the mess?
More succinctly, how on earth can a "crony" of yesterday claim
to be a "judge" of today?
The fact the government failed to summon Soeharto and let him
do the dictating -- he deigned to visit the Attorney General's
Office when he felt it appropriate -- has led to the
understandable suspicion that maneuverings are going on behind
the scenes. If this proves true, then the government's
credibility will be irreparably shattered and more popular
protests against Habibie will ensue.
Why the foot-dragging? When Kim Young-sam became president of
South Korea, he had no problem in trying two former presidents,
Choon Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo, for their crimes.
The difference is that the Korean leader respected the
principle of "equality before the law". The government and South
Korea people agreed on one thing: former presidents should be
treated like other common citizens in the name of legal equality.
In the literature of political philosophy, the principle of
equality before the law is an essential pillar of a democratic
state. It can be applied to the rules themselves and to the
actual practices of legal administrators.
The investigation into Soeharto's wealth falls into the second
application. Thus, legal rules should be applied impartially to
all people who fall within a given category. The impartiality of
the government which adjudicates the rules, however, cannot be
easily assumed.
Legal administrators should meet certain criteria and moral
qualifications. As Ben and Peters (1973) put it: "we must
ensure ... that judges are free from political pressures, by
insulating them from the executive and legislature; free from
corruption, by training them in professional standards,
professionally maintained; free as any human being may be from
irrational bias, appointing to the bench of men of wide
experience, human sympathies and trained intellect."
There are several important legal and political reasons why an
independent and objective investigation into Soeharto's wealth
should be immediately conducted. First, such an investigation can
serve as a warning to all government officials and future
Indonesian leaders that any abuse of power for personal benefit
could never escape legal sanction. It would also strengthen
Indonesia's legal enforcement in general.
Second, as a young nation, Indonesia needs consistent
institutionalization of a tradition of law-governed political
behavior.
The mere presence of democratic institutions will not lead to
democracy. It is the political behavior of public officials which
determines whether a political system is democratic.
Moreover, an institutionalization of law-governed behavior
could produce valuable political education for the people.
Last but not least, impartial application of the law could
strengthen the credibility of the Indonesian legal system in the
eyes of foreign investors.
Indeed, investigation into Soeharto's wealth would be a test
case for Habibie's government. If he succeeds with this
investigation, the Indonesian people will remember him as a great
reformist. If not, he will go down in history as nothing more
than a collaborator and extension of a regime that so many people
love to hate.
The writer is the head of the School of International
Relations at Parahyangan University, Bandung. He is also a
researcher at the university's Parahyangan Center for
International Studies.