Hopes dim for MPR to adopt decree on Soeharto probe

Hopes dim for MPR to adopt decree on Soeharto probe

JAKARTA (JP): Hopes that the Special Session of the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR) will adopt additional decrees
diminished on Tuesday after the dominant Golkar and Armed Forces
factions said they would stick to the existing ones.

One proposed decree not among the 12 prepared for the session
that had garnered much support would order an investigation into
the wealth of former president Soeharto and his family.

The proceedings by the Attorney General's Office have been
considered slow, leading to suggestions that a decree from the
Assembly would have more clout to push through the
investigations.

Another decree proposed by several parties is that former
president Soeharto be summoned to present an accountability
statement of his term from March 11 to May 21, given the
tragedies during the period, such as the shooting of students in
May and the ensuing riots.

However Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung as saying after the
session's opening ceremony here that the 12 draft decrees already
accommodated the people's aspirations and demands for reform.

"The 12 draft decrees are corrections of past mistakes ...
particularly regarding state power," Akbar, also minister/state
secretary said. He called for a legal system that would avoid a
repetition of concentrating power in one person.

"Through the MPR, we want to develop a mechanism capable of
keeping the balance of power," he said.

Deputy chairman of the Armed Forces (ABRI) House of
Representatives faction, Hari Sabarno, similarly said his faction
would continue to deliberate only the 12 draft decrees.

The draft decrees include the limitation of a president's
term, regional autonomy, human rights, clean governance and
"politics in a democratic economy".

The Armed Forces (ABRI) MPR faction also said the issue of
investigating Soeharto and his family should be processed through
the courts.

Deputy faction leader, Lt. Gen. AM Roestandi, said the Armed
Forces faction would be "consistent" with the draft decrees
prepared for the session, although they were open to additional
decrees if needed. "It's not that we are obstructing or don't
want the investigation," Roestandi said.

In the Assembly's Working Committee which prepared the drafts,
the proposed decree to investigate Soeharto came from the United
Development Party (PPP), the government-sanctioned Indonesian
Democratic Party and the Regional Representatives factions. Their
efforts came to nothing on account of Golkar and ABRI opposition.

In its place a draft decree on clean governance was issued.
The three minor factions have said they will continue to bring up
the issue in the session.

However, on Tuesday the Golkar MPR faction chairman, Marzuki
Darusman, said the session could still accommodate aspirations
not discussed by the MPR Working Committee. He said the public
would only accept the MPR Special Session if its outcome was
useful to them.

He had been quoted on Monday night by Antara as saying the
faction would heed public wishes to have the Assembly issue a
decree on investigating Soeharto and the former first family's
wealth.

The secretary-general of the PPP faction, Tosari Wijaya, said
the session would never ask for Soeharto's accountability because
it was "not constitutional."

"The person presenting his accountability to the Assembly must
be someone in office, while Soeharto is now a regular citizen,"
Tosari said, echoed by Golkar's Akbar.

Responsibility for accountability to the Assembly would have
to be taken over by President B.J. Habibie in next year's General
Assembly, Tosari added.

Soeharto's political and legal accountability are separate
issues, Tosari said. This why PPP would continue to press for a
decree demanding an investigation of the wealth of Soeharto, his
family and cronies, he said. PPP's faction chairman Faisal Baasir
said, "This draft decree is crucial to give constitutional, moral
and political support to the president" to conduct
investigations.

On Monday political researcher Mochtar Pabottingi said in a
televised dialog that the session's decrees were already over the
top. "The session should only produce a decree on the schedule of
the general elections," he said on Indosiar. He also said the
Assembly should be ruled as a temporary Assembly, such as the one
in 1967 which brought an end to the presidency of the late
founding president Sukarno. (amd/imn/das/anr)