George fuels reform via the Net
JAKARTA (JP): From his teaching post in Australia, George Junus Aditjondro, sociologist and former lecturer of Satya Wacana University, is closely following developments in his country. The university's dismissal of George in 1994 has been linked to his critical stance. He is known best for his database and analysis of the wealth of former president Soeharto and for his scholarly works on East Timor.
His e-mails have appeared frequently, giving encouragement to students before and after Soeharto stepped down. His articles on the Web provided an abundance of information on the amassed wealth of the political elite. Lately, he has been disseminating, through the Internet, his research on the wealth and businesses of President B.J. Habibie and his family.
The following are excerpts from an e-mail interview with George, 52, now teaching sociology of corruption at Newcastle University in Newcastle:
Question: How would you describe the development, or patterns, if any, of amassing wealth by those abusing power in Indonesia?
Answer: In liberal democracies, people try to get rich first, then transform that financial capital into political capital. As soon as the conflict of interest rules are violated, politicians lose their popular support and are outvoted. Then, they become business consultants, as several former Australian prime ministers have done, including Bob Hawke and Paul Keating.
In Indonesia, it is the other way around: Get into politics, or in the bureaucracy first, then transform that political capital into financial capital, and then try to stay put forever, by building patronage networks based on ethnicity and religion.
We have several rules against conflicts of interest but they are constantly violated, which is also because we don't have an independent judiciary. We are still developing a free press, which is not yet the case, and we do not have real opposition parties, yet, including political parties based on socialist ideologies which, together with independent trade unions, constitute a strong systemic, anticorruption force.
This is partly caused by our feudal political culture and partly by the abuse of power of the Armed Forces acting as the regime's German shepherd.
Q: Forbes magazine puts Soeharto, with his US$4 billion wealth, as one of the world's richest men. Does it match your research?
A: Yes, which is only based on my rough estimates about the value of (sons) Bambang and Tommy's Singapore-based oil and gas tanker fleets, Tutut's (daughter Siti Hardijanti Rukmana) 350-kilometer toll roads in Malaysia, the Philippines, Myanmar and China, which are flanked by the Indonesian-Australian billboard company of Humpuss and NLD, and all their properties in the UK, Aotearoa (New Zealand), and the U.S.
Based on my research, I found that (son) Sigit owns two houses in London and (half-brother) Probosutedjo one. Tutut owns a house in Boston, and the Sudwikatmonos own two in Beverly Hills, Tommy owns 24,000-hectare piece of land with a hunting lodge on it in Aotearoa.
This does not include the value of their joint ventures in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Australia, Europe, and the rest of the world, nor their properties and businesses inside Indonesia, after all the special deals with Pertamina (state-owned oil company), PLN (state-owned electricity company), Jasa Marga (state-owned road company), and other state enterprises have been abolished -- if they are going to be abolished.
Q: We have several supervising institutions: the Supreme Audit Agency, the Secretary of Development Operations etc. and also the 1971 law on corruption. They have been largely ineffective. Why is this?
A: Again, it's our feudal political culture. People don't want, or don't dare to criticize the rulers while they are still in power, and scream against them once they have stepped down. Besides, the dual function of the military, or should we say, the triple function, if we include the military's economic role, has destroyed all those institutions and regulations.
Q: Corruption here is such a tangled web. Is there any hope of eradicating it? Any suggestions on how?
A: Abolish the military's dual function, disengage the police from the Armed Forces, put the Police under the Ministry of Home Affairs, and develop an independent judiciary, free from military intervention.
Q: The trend now seems to be to ditch projects linked to the former first family with the risk of raising fears of investment here, as some contracts with foreign partners may be stopped.
A: I strongly support ditching projects or deals which were not based on open and transparent tenders, and were forged by appointing members of the Soeharto family or their cronies as partners, without actually providing the capital. We need to teach foreign partners a lesson, not to abuse our weaknesses, especially since many liberal democracies -- the Western countries and Japan -- have ratified the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.
Many foreign companies have abused our weak political system, by appointing Soeharto cronies as their joint-venture partners, without them actually providing the capital to support their shares. If you don't believe this, ask Rio Tinto how Jantje Lim became their 10 percent partner in PT Kelian Equatorial Mining? Ask Freeport McMoRan, how did Bakrie and Brothers became their 9 percent partner in PT Freeport Indonesia, Inc.? Did Jantje Lim and Bakries actually provide the capital for those shares, or did Rio Tinto and Freeport McMoRan actually provide it to them, which they could pay in the long run?
Q: Many people are demanding the repossession of Soeharto's wealth. How could this be done?
A: First, by setting up a new government, based on a free and just election, where all political parties, without any asas tunggal (single principle of Pancasila ideology) constraint, could compete. Then, the new government should set up a Presidential Commission on Clean Government, to investigate the origins of Soeharto's and Habibie's wealth, and demand friendly governments -- including the Swiss, Saudi Arabian and Morocco governments -- to open their bank accounts, freeze the accounts of the wealth which could be traced back to special deals with the Soeharto and Habibie companies, and eventually repatriate them to Indonesia to the new government.
The new government should negotiate with ASEAN and Chinese governments to confiscate Tommy and Bambang's tanker fleets and cancel the toll road deals with Tutut's companies. The new government should demand Tutut and her brothers return revenues generated overseas from all those tanker fleets and tollways.
Q: Habibie has hinted at phasing out troops from East Timor and giving special autonomy to the territory. Would these affect business interests in the territory, including the Timor Gap? How much is really at stake?
A: The oil and gas wealth of the Timor Sea surpasses Kuwait's reserves. The sea is divided between Indonesia and Australia. Major Australian companies like BHP, Santos and Petroz are operating in the area. Australia is looking at the prospect of turning into another Norway, and Indonesia into another United Kingdom because the petrochemical wealth of this sea is comparable to the North Sea.
Once East Timor becomes independent, this wealth has to be divided between three countries. It reduces Indonesia and Australia's wealth a little bit, but it will make East Timor another Brunei.
Q: In a recent visit to Jakarta, Bishop Belo touched on the taboo of information and public indifference on East Timor. How do you see this?
A: This "bamboo curtain" between East Timor and Indonesia is now slowly but surely being pierced by the increasing press freedom in Indonesia, and the work of all the NGOs which have translated, published, and written their own accounts of East Timor. I encourage The Jakarta Post readers to buy books published by Pijar and other non-governmental organizations on East Timor. My own book, In the Shadow of Mount Ramelau, is now being translated by Jaringan Kerja Budaya, to be published this year.
Q: Any plans on coming home? What does your family want?
A: Of course we want to go home. But first I have to finish my contract at Newcastle University, which ends in 2000, giving me ample time to watch the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Second, the rector and Satya Wacana foundation must revoke their letter dismissing me from the university.
Our (only) son, Enrico, still needs to finish his BA in Communication Studies at Newcastle University, In the meantime, he is gaining his work experience working as part time journalist for the Maritime Worker, the magazine of the Maritime Union of Australia.
My wife, Esti, is increasing her Indonesian language teaching skills and translation skills here in Newcastle, and is involved in translating books on East Timor for publication by Pijar.
So, all three of us are filling our time very productively, and hoping to return to Indonesia, preferably to Salatiga or Yogyakarta, at the turn of the century, to a more democratic Indonesia. (anr)