Govt plans move on Soeharto
Govt plans move on Soeharto
JAKARTA (JP): The government is looking into the possible
seizure of a cattle ranch owned by former president Soeharto, who
is now the subject of an official corruption inquiry.
Ownership of the 750-hectare ranch in Tapos, Bogor, about 60
kilometers south of Jakarta, is in dispute with surrounding
villagers claiming they had farmed the area for generations
before Soeharto appropriated it by force in the 1970s.
Several protests have been staged there.
Barman Zahir, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office,
said on Wednesday that investigators were now looking at how
Soeharto took over this land.
Recently provincial branches of the National Land Agency have
reported their findings that Soeharto and his family own huge
tracts of land in several provinces, including Jambi, West Nusa
Tenggara and Irian Jaya.
In Lampung, Chief of the Prosecutor's Office Katabudjur
Ketaren said that his office has also detected in the province
vast property belonging to Soeharto and his family.
"Soeharto and his family possess so many plots of land in the
province that I cannot assess their total value in figures,"
Antara news agency quoted him as saying in Lampung on Wednesday.
He said government prosecutors offices have reported findings
of alleged Soeharto property in five of Lampung's regencies.
In Jakarta around 3,000 students Thursday marched to
Soeharto's Jl. Cendana residence in Central Jakarta in the second
attempt this week to demand an investigation of Soeharto's abuse
of power including his allegedly ill-gotten wealth.
A helicopter circled above, and security officers managed to
prevent the students from reaching the residence.
Meanwhile President B.J. Habibie was quoted as saying he is
considering more concrete steps to investigate Soeharto as a
follow-up to a decree on clean governance adopted by the recent
Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). The
decree stipulates an investigation of officials and former
officials, including Soeharto, over allegations of rampant
corruption and collusion during the 32-year New Order regime.
Minister/State Secretary Akbar Tandjung said that the
government would consider all inputs. Akbar cited inputs from
Amien Rais, the chairman of the National Mandate Party, but
declined to comment on Amien's appeal that Soeharto be placed
under city arrest. Soeharto, according to sources, has mostly
stayed at home since he stepped down on May 21.
Coordinating Minister for Development Supervision and State
Administrative Reform Hartarto Sastrosoenarto said after a
coordination meeting on political and security affairs, that the
government is drawing up a draft law to implement the above MPR
decree on clean governance.
He also said that the government would initiate an
"independent" team to carry out the investigation and this would
include private parties. The team would work separately from the
government-appointed team led by Attorney General Andi Muhammad
Ghalib.
In Singapore, former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew said that
previous estimates of the Soeharto family's wealth at US$42
billion were too high, and that he was told by an investigator
for Forbes business magazine that the wealth is "only worth $4
billion, and most is still in Indonesia."
"Unlike deposed Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who
spirited his swag abroad, the Soehartos had most of their
investments in Indonesia. Soeharto will not leave Indonesia. He
would consider that cowardly, something he will not contemplate.
I know the man."
Meanwhile the Dutch government has warned that it would not
provide any financial aid to Indonesia until it was sure that the
Indonesian government was really freed of corruption, Antara
reported Thursday.
Dutch Cooperation Minister Eveline Herfkens said that apart
from a promise from President B.J. Habibie that he would create a
clean and transparent government, there was as yet no assurance
that financial aid given by the Netherlands would be safe from
corrupt practices. (rms/imn)