Govt 'must show' its intention to fight graft

JAKARTA (JP): Former minister of finance Mar'ie Muhammad told the government on Friday to speedily demonstrate its stated intention to investigate corruption cases linked to former president Soeharto. He suggested that probes should start with major graft cases.

Mar'ie told the government to learn from the experience of the Philippine government's attempts to find the fortune of its former president Ferdinand Marcos.

"The investigation into the Marcos case has gone on for more than 12 years without solution. I think the corruption cases in Indonesia are worth more than the Marcos ones," Mar'ie told journalists on the sidelines of the Indonesia Forum business conference here.

Mar'ie, also chief commissioner of state-owned Bank Mandiri, suggested that President B.J. Habibie's administration set up an independent body to investigate corruption cases.

He said the body should comprise highly respected figures and suggested international investigator Kroll Associates Inc. should be involved because the corruptors used sophisticated methods to hide their riches.

"I do not have any intention to promote the agency, but basically I recommend the government establishes such an agency," he said.

The chairman of the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP), Soedarjono, said his office had uncovered graft practices in projects involving state-owned companies.

These included a case involving state-owned toll road builder PT Hutama Karya which issued a commercial paper (CP) to finance the construction of several toll road projects controlled by Soeharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, Soedarjono said.

"It looks as if there is a conspiracy. The money that came from the sales of the CP did not go to Hutama Karya," he said, adding that the CP was worth hundreds of millions of US dollars.

On the other hand, Soedarjono said, recent corruption charges leveled against Arifin Panigoro, a noted businessman supportive of students, were baseless and politically motivated.

"It was just political pressure, it had nothing to do with Arifin," he said.

A group of students managed to stage a protest at National Monument (Monas) park on Friday, one of the most strategic areas in Jakarta as it is adjacent to Merdeka Palace. It was students' third attempt this week to express their demands to try Soeharto for human rights abuses in addition to corruption charges.

Pressure

Coordinator Husni said: "We want to press him (Habibie) to continue the investigation ... He must realize his own promise."

Some 500 members of the Jakarta Association of Muhammadiyah Students marched from Tugu Tani in Menteng, Central Jakarta at about 1 p.m. to the palace to press their demand to Habibie.

Security officers said the students intended to intercept Soeharto who regularly performs his Friday prayers at a mosque inside the Bimantara building on Jl. Kebon Sirih. The building houses the headquarters of the Bimantara business group owned up by his second son, Bambang Trihatmodjo.

A police line was formed to contain demonstrators inside the Monas park but students ran out onto Jl. Merdeka Barat. Seventeen additional army trucks full of troops rushed to the scene to prevent the students from advancing further.

Hundreds of other students grouped in a Joint Forum (Forbes) held prayers on the Cawang-Grogol toll road near the Jakarta Police headquarters and caused massive traffic congestion on Friday afternoon.

Prayers in tribute to those who fell on Black Friday were also jointly held by the Association of Indonesian Moslem Students (PMII), Pijar Indonesia, Indonesia Working Group (KKI) and the Association of Indonesian Catholic Students (PMKRI) at the headquarters of the Nahdlatul Ulama Moslem organization on Jl. Kramat, Central Jakarta. On Thursday the Indonesian Ulemas Council also called for Moslems to conduct prayers for last week's victims.

A Soeharto close aide said on Friday that the former president spent most of this week at his residence.

"He stayed at home and does not have any intention to leave Jakarta or the country," said the aide.

The aide, requesting anonymity, said Soeharto was "very sad" about the mounting demonstrations against him.

"You can imagine his feeling as students continue denouncing an old man like him," said the aide.

In Surabaya, the capital of East Java, thousands of students convoyed around the city after Friday prayers.

"Reforms must continue and Soeharto must be taken to court," they chanted.

From Hong Kong AFP reported activists staged protests outside the Indonesian consulate on Friday against the bloody military crackdown of student-led protests in Jakarta last week.

Activists from non-government organizations, labor unions and student bodies condemned the handling of Black Friday.

They demanded Habibie, Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto and their allies in the bureaucracy and military be held responsible for the recent fatalities.

"We demand an end to the political role of the Indonesian Armed Forces," the group said in a statement, adding: "We demand justice." (das/edt/nur/29/prb)