House enters debate on revolution fund
JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives stepped into the renewed debate yesterday over the claim that a soon-to-be- released political prisoner is responsible for the billions of dollars in a "revolution fund" that reportedly went missing more than 30 years ago.
Deputy House Speaker Ismail Hasan Metareum said the legislative body would find out if the fund really existed and if it did, will determine where it is now and how it can be recovered.
"Everything about the funds remains in the dark," he told reporters yesterday.
Metareum called on the public to allow the political prisoner, Soebandrio, to get out of jail and explain what he knows about the disputed funds.
The debate on the alleged existence of the funds was resumed last week by Suhardiman, the chief of Soksi, a military-sponsored labor organization, which helped found the Golkar party to counter the growing influence of the communists in 1964.
The issue was first raised in the 1980s, also by Suhardiman. In 1987, the government, through Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono, publicly conceded that "it is hard to track the funds down but the government will keep trying."
The funds under dispute were reportedly raised by president Sukarno to finance various revolution projects, including the war to recapture West Irian (now Irian Jaya) and the confrontation with Malaysia.
Estimates on the sum of the money vary from between US$135 million to US$16 billion.
The debate flared again just a few days after the government announced it planned to release Soebandrio, a former deputy prime minister, and two other political prisoners linked to the bloody 1965 coup attempt. The other two are Air Force vice marshal Omar Dhani, 71, and police brigadier general Raden Soegeng Soetarto, 77. They are to be released after Aug. 15.
Chief of the Armed Forces (ABRI) socio-political affairs department Lt. Gen. M. Ma'roef called on the government to investigate the issue.
Oei Tjoe Tat, former state minister of the Dwikora Cabinet in 1963, said yesterday that the revolution fund was collected from major businessmen, who were required to pay five percent of their profits to the government.
He said, however, that he had no idea of the whereabouts, let alone the amount, at present.
He also said that there were only three persons with the authority to withdraw the revolution fund -- President Sukarno and two deputy prime ministers, Soebandrio and Chairul Saleh.
Currently only Soebandrio is still alive.
Stamp
In response to the reporters' questions about the proposal to revoke the policy of stamping "ET" (meaning former political prisoner) on the identification cards of political detainees and their children, Metareum said the Armed Forces had the authority to decide the matter.
Mashuri, former minister of information and education, said yesterday that the government should revoke the policy because the children of the political prisoners are not responsible for what their parents did.
"Putting the ET stamps on their children's ID cards is like punishing them without due legal process," he said. (imn)