Don't feign ignorance
The police, who spearhead the law-enforcing institutions, are expected to be sensitive, smart and diligent. They are expected to act without discrimination and do their utmost to unearth the mystery of the Bank Bali scandal, which is assumed to be the tip of the iceberg for other similar crimes.
Relevant state apparatus should not try to systematically disappoint the community at large, now eagerly awaiting the exposure of this foul scam, by half-heartedly probing this case and making other efforts to fool the community. It is especially true now when this scam is widely known and will, therefore, be monitored at home and abroad.
The chief of police must be very naive when, as quoted in the Sept. 2 edition of Media Indonesia, he said that "there was no indication of the involvement of state officials in this case"; the reality, as is known to the public, is to the contrary. In my opinion, being involved in a case may not necessarily have a negative connotation because it must still be determined how someone became involved and what motivated him. Therefore, it is unnecessary for the police chief to be apprehensive about acknowledging that a number of state's officials are involved in the scandal.
Information about the case abounds: the document called Rudy Ramli's Diary, the audio cassette containing a recording purportedly of Baramuli and Setya Novanto, which Roy M. Suryo, an expert in voice identification, has scientifically proved to be the voices of the two men. There are many other media reports published or broadcast in the past month, of which the most interesting is the chart of the flow of funds from Bank Bali to PT EGP and Joko S. Tjandra, published in Business Indonesia of Sept. 2. It clearly shows the people who received the money and how much each of them obtained.
If the police chief has a thirst for truth, he will have no hesitation in summoning those who allegedly received the money to inquire in what connection the transaction occurred. It must be ascertained whether they have received the money because of a business deal, as Enggartiasto has stated, or because of other reasons. Information about this must continue to be pursued and supporting evidence/documents asked for. It is always a possibility that the documents have been fabricated; if this is the case, the real motive behind the distribution of the money can be revealed. The chart referred to above clearly shows that PT Ungaran Sari Garment provided Rp 642 billion to many parties, including a figure close to State Minister of the Empowerment of State Enterprises Tanri Abeng and one of President B.J. Habibie's siblings.
It is greatly hoped that the police chief and all his officers will have the courage to abandon the New Order custom of "acting only under order of the ruler". They must now show their independence and their gallant behavior in defense of the interest of the people. They should discard for good their oft- repeated pretexts of "the presumption of innocence", "lack of authentic evidence" and the like, so that nobody may have the impression that they are either lacking in nerve and independence of action or afraid of losing their positions.
The police chief should know that the people are hoping to see the police take firm and fair action without any discrimination in dealing with criminals who have very daringly misappropriated people's money, shamelessly and boldly dancing upon the people's sufferings. Do not feign ignorance of this evil crime. Any reluctance on the part of the police to use their authority to thoroughly solve this rotten scandal will only deeply hurt the people's sense of justice and their very conscience.
H. WISDARMANTO GS
Jakarta