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)