Greed usurps family values of the former first family

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.