George fuels reform via the Net

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)