Government to ask Soebandrio about `Revolution Fund'

JAKARTA (JP): The government plans to question Soebandrio, the former deputy prime minister who will be released from prison later this month, about the existence of a special fund President Sukarno established during his reign in the 1960s.

Attorney General Singgih said, however, that the government will not heed to calls to link Soebandrio's release to his cooperation in uncovering the whereabouts of the "Revolution Fund".

"We will ask him in due course," Singgih told reporters before a cabinet meeting at the Bina Graha presidential office.

The location of the fund is once again a hot topic of debate with the imminent release of Soebandrio, who has been given clemency by President Soeharto after spending 29 years in prison after receiving a life imprisonment sentence.

Soebandrio is scheduled to be released from the Cipinang correctional facility in Jakarta on Aug. 16.

Soebandrio, who was convicted for his role in the 1965 coup against President Sukarno, blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), is believed to be the only person alive capable of unlocking the mystery of the Revolution Fund.

Suhardiman, one politician who has tried in the past to locate the Fund, has insisted that the money is sitting in various bank accounts abroad (Switzerland being one site) and only Soebandrio has the authority access those accounts.

The fund was created from special taxes levied on private enterprises. It was used to finance Sukarno's 1960s war efforts which included campaigns in Irian Jaya against the Dutch as well as the "Confrontation" against Malaysia.

Estimates of the Fund's current size range from as little as $135 million to as much as $25 billion (these figures include accrued interest). Some politicians suspect the Fund is large enough to alleviate the government's large foreign debt, now estimated to be approximately $60 billion.

Prior government efforts to determine the whereabouts of the Fund's accounts came to a dead end in the 1980s.

"If they really exist, they are state assets," Singgih said, adding that it would be his job to protect and retrieve these assets. He conceded, however, that the government does not have a shred of proof that the Revolution Fund actually exists.

When asked if the government would set up a team to retrieve the money, Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman said that, first and foremost, the government must determine that the Fund exists.

Soesilo likened the situation to a sunken ship that may, or may not, carry treasure. "Is there gold out there? You cannot know for sure."

Soebandrio, who has already given several interviews since the announcement of his imminent release, has not commented on the existence of the Revolution Fund. His wife, Sri Kusdyantinah, however, confirmed at one time the existence of the Fund but said the amount of money within it is not as large as the press suggests.

Political analyst Nazaruddin Syamsuddin yesterday urged Soebandrio to cooperate with the government in recovering the Fund's assets as a gesture of gratitude for his clemency.

Nazaruddin, an executive of the Indonesian Institute of Science, said he supported Golkar's proposition that Soebandrio's release should be linked conditionally with his promise of full cooperation in the matter.

"I think if he wants to dedicate the remaining years of his life to this nation, he start by helping the government recover the money," Nazaruddin said.

Soebandrio, now 81 years old, has pleaded to the government to be allowed to die a free man.

"The clemency given to him is an opportunity for him to atone for past sins," Nazaruddin said. "He has a duty to disclose the whereabouts of the money; besides, there's no way for him to collect the money without being found out. That's not his personal money, it belongs to the state." (emb/05)