Hats off to DPR members

Hats off to DPR members

From Jayakarta

The Indonesian community is excited over the pluck shown by
Commission VI of the House of Representatives (DPR), with South
Sulawesi senior politician Soenarjo Hadade as spokesman, to bring
to light the Rp 50 billion collected from the Bukit Asam Coal
Mines cooperation contracts and deposited in the personal account
of Minister of Mines and Energy I.B. Sudjana. The reason for the
collection was the wastefulness of PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam
in its operations.

Rightfully, President Soeharto should take steps to channel
the funds into the state treasury. They are still in the name of
the Ministry of Mines and Energy, but no longer in Sudjana's
personal account.

Hats off to Soenarjo Hadede, and my respect to I.B. Sudjana,
who two years ago took action in the collection of the funds from
Bukit Asam.

If former ministers of mines and energy Sadli, Subroto and
Ginanjar Kartasasmita had done the same as Sudjana, the amount of
state money misappropriated would not have been so huge. This
money went into the personal accounts of some members of the
board of directors in state-owned companies, like Pertamina and
Timah.

The hefty manipulations allowed them to amass enormous wealth,
which later on led to ownership of hotels, banks and automotive
industries. The state's profit only went to a number of
facilities like Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, the Harapan Kita
Hospital, the veterans' building and the Jakarta Convention
Center.

There was a delay of two years in bringing up the matter of
the Bukit Asam funds. We appreciate it nonetheless.

H.G. MALIKMASS

Ciputat, West Java