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)