Habibie revokes Soeharto's rules on foundations

Habibie revokes Soeharto's rules on foundations

JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie has revoked all
presidential decrees and instructions issued by former president
Soeharto which mandate financial contributions to government-
linked foundations, senior officials said yesterday.

Among the organizations affected will be social foundations
chaired by Soeharto that his opponents charge have been used to
amass his personal fortune.

The President also ended the right to collect funds and
abolished other privileges granted to foundations by Soeharto
during his 32 year rule and ordered all the funds already
collected by these foundations to be transferred into the state
coffers.

"The move is an attempt to stimulate transparency in social
foundations. It is necessary to put the finances of all
foundations linked to the government in order," Coordinating
Minister for Development Supervision and Poverty Alleviation
Hartarto said after meeting with Habibie in the Bina Graha
presidential office.

During the meeting Hartarto was accompanied by Attorney
General Muhammad Ghalib and Minister/State Secretary Akbar
Tandjung.

Hartarto asserted that the President was not only targeting
Soeharto's foundations, but acknowledged that special attention
had been given to the five major foundations chaired by the
former president.

Ghalib identified the five foundations as Dharmais, Amal Bakti
Muslim Pancasila, Supersemar, Dakab and Dana Sejahtera Mandiri
(YSDM).

Former vice president Sudharmono said last month that the
assets of the first four foundations were worth $2.63 trillion
(US$239 million), while YSDM assets were worth an estimated Rp
1.1 trillion.

Dharmais was set up in 1975 to help orphanages and homeless
and disabled people. Since it was set up, all state banks have
been obliged to contribute five percent of their net profits to
Dharmais.

Amal Bakti Muslim Pancasila was set up in 1982 to build
mosques and finance religious activities, and since then has been
collecting Rp 50 from the monthly salaries of low-level Moslem
civil servants and members of the Armed Forces. More senior
officials have their salaries cut by Rp 1,000 per month.

Supersemar was founded in 1974 to provide scholarships for
students of all ages, from elementary school up to university
level.

Dakab, established in 1985, provides financial support to the
dominant political grouping Golkar.

"The Attorney General's Office is working together with
professional accountants to audit the foundations chaired by
former president Soeharto. The audits are expected to be
completed in the next three or four months," Hartarto noted.

However, both Ghalib and Hartarto declined to disclose the
number of foundations chaired by Soeharto, and said they had yet
to discover how many presidential decrees governing contributions
to social foundations had been signed by Soeharto.

"That will be announced in due time," Hartarto said. (prb)