Greed usurps family values of the former first family

By Rahayu Ratnaningsih

JAKARTA (JP): Greed is the root of all evil. When it is combined with unlimited and unbalanced power it could drag an entire nation to the verge of extinction. After an extended honeymoon of 32 years, even very rich soil can be sucked dry, leaving behind a wasteland with US$125 billion in foreign debt. All in the name stability and growth.

Let's check the statistics: Ferdinand Marcos piled up $10 billion; Ethiopia's Haile Selassie $2 billion; Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko $5 billion; Haiti's Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier $500 million; Soeharto, by a conservative estimate, an alleged $15 billion. Unfortunately for him, Time observed that the crisis that has struck Indonesia deflated his empire to this more "modest" amount from a staggering and unprecedented $75 billion fortune. Not a bad record for a smiling general who is soft- spoken, cool and regal-mannered. In fact, he broke the record as the century's greatest looting despot.

So far, it seems like the perfect hunting ground for those diligent souls charged with hunting down vast, ill-gotten assets, apart from one key factor: Soeharto doesn't have a cent. There is no property, shares or accounts overseas, and he, if it could be proven, wasn't the one who transferred $9 billion from a Swiss Bank to an Austrian bank. None of these alleged transactions were conducted in his name.

Soeharto is a separate entity from his obscenely rich, rent- taking offspring, despite the point blank reality that his powerful position was the main, if only, reason for the blossoming of their business "talents".

But the party is over. Or at least almost over. Appearing calm, smiling as usual and leaning heavily on his religion, Soeharto appeared on national TV on May 21, a year after his pitiful resignation, and maintained his holy old retiree stance by denying all accusations of corruption and abuse of power.

How can the people not trust him when he and his three beloved and distressed looking sons were shown at Friday prayers, appearing solemn and deeply entranced in their worship? God's test this time is certainly hard to face, but as His faithful slaves the family can always turn to Him for redemption. Never mind if Sigit, the eldest son, is reportedly an avid gambler who has been known to lose $3 million in one sitting and has accumulated total losses in the region of $150 million. Or little Tommy, who allegedly loved traveling in his private jet on gambling sprees to the world's major casinos. After all, easy come, easy go. They did nothing out of the ordinary.

The game the transitional regime is playing seems to be very difficult to maintain now that someone else has fueled the already restless people to a heightened level of agitation. For the ex-"royal" family, projecting, however feebly, the image of a morally sound, highly cultured Javanese family has always been of paramount importance, in spite of the negative publicity.

Thus, maximum squirming, even if it means digging their own graves, is worth it. So just sue the giant magazine for libel. The Soehartos are not yet used to having people challenge and contradict them. It's not easy accept the change from 32 years of privileged life to being the most wanted criminals in the country. Even the fact that a highly reputable and credible news magazine would never risk its existence or compromise its integrity by reporting something without detailed and substantiated research doesn't deter them.

In anticipation of a potential legal suit, the magazine would certainly have consulted with its own lawyers prior to publication. It would be wiser for Soeharto to use his right to respond by pinpointing which parts of the articles are libelous, inaccurate or untrue. The warning letters his lawyers sent to the magazine only stated that Time's report was absolutely untrue, without specifying which parts were false.

Is it the part that said that he and his family owned plots of land larger than Belgium? Or is it the part that details his children's part ownership in most of the country's prominent multinational corporations? Or the fleet of planes and luxurious mansions with heated pools they own in Europe and America? These things are not that difficult to verify.

If Soeharto's lawyers and the attorney general appear to be on the same wavelength, it's hardly surprising. Both persist in the sacredly held "divine" principle that Soeharto's wealth should be distinguished from his children's.

The extremely narrow focus of the megacorruption investigation promulgated and sustained by the Attorney General's Office is downright embarrassing and unacceptable. It simply demonstrates that the attorney general is either ignorant of the psychology of corruption and the fact that corruption is inseparable from abuse of power or he is trying to do the opposite to what his job demands; namely protecting those suspected of having committed crimes against the state rather than prosecuting them. And that futile, time-wasting effort of searching for accounts under Soeharto's name; who really believes such a preposterous joke? Who are you trying to fool, Sir, but yourself?

Andi Ghalib's plea for the people and, in particular, his critics to be patient since he's only been in office for about 10 months, during which time he still has been unable to determine the exact amount of Soeharto's official presidential salary, has worn rather thin. Time took only four months to carry out its investigation. The government's most powerful investigative agent should have done much more in 10 months, assuming it is seriously pursuing the case.

Instead of once again trying to divert attention to the messenger rather than the message, in the same way he tackled Jeffrey Winter's Freeport corruption allegation involving Coordinating Minister for Economy and Finance Ginandjar Kartasasmita, Ghalib could immediately issue an official request for the ex-president and his family's overseas accounts and properties to be frozen. A week after the magazine's publication there is still no sign that this will happen.

If he wants to admit that it is outside his and his office's capacity to pursue the matter, why not take Kroll Associates's up on their offer? Consultants from the private asset-tracking firm have apparently packed their bags and are ready to fly to the Attorney General's Office rescue. They have successfully traced the wealth of Ferdinand Marcos, Jean Claude Duvalier and Adnan Kasshogi. Until earlier this May, they were tracing an account of Marcos' daughter, Irene, amounting to $13.2 million in a Swiss bank. They even got hold of her account number.

Or perhaps resignation is a natural way out for officials who find it hard to be independent. If you think you don't have the guts or the heart to prosecute someone to whom you owe your current privileged status, and at the same time won't be able to bear the public scrutiny and criticism of your poor performance, what could be more reasonable than handing the job over to others who are more competent and presumably have no historical relations with the criminals?

This suggestion also holds for the President who, strangely enough, has the audacity to stand for reelection. Would it be wrong to suggest that this is some form of masochism?

The writer is director of the Satori Foundation, a center for the study and development of human excellence through training in mind programming and meditation techniques.