In the shadow of Lopa

In the shadow of Lopa

The crusade to create a clean and democratic government is no
easy job for developing nations, especially Indonesia which has
been widely known as one of the most corrupt countries on this
planet.

Before President Megawati Soekarnoputri named Muhammad Abdul
Rachman, a career public prosecutor, as the new attorney general
on Tuesday, our nation had turned itself inside out in an effort
to find the right man to fill the post, which is a pivotal pillar
to upholding supremacy of the law. The post had been left vacant
following the unexpected death of Baharuddin Lopa in early July.

Although Lopa held the post for less than one month, he
deserves our admiration and great respect -- because he was
exceptional. Lopa was so full of integrity, strength, honesty and
sincerity that he had enough courage to start his lone crusade
against corruption more than two decades ago. The government and
the general public recognized his meritorious deeds. Megawati
posthumously awarded him a prestigious medal of merit on Tuesday.

And so exceptional was Lopa that perhaps every thinking
citizen agreed that he was almost impossible to replace. This
group of people included Megawati, the President. When she
announced her first Cabinet lineup last week, the President was
still unable to find someone to replace Lopa. She certainly did
not want to be accused of making the national fight against
corruption a small-time job.

On the other hand, the difficulty in finding an adequate
replacement has been influenced by popular logic demanding that
they must be well known for their honesty. Megawati was not
expected to try to find such a person in the Attorney General's
Office because the effort would be akin to trying to find a
needle in a haystack. If she were to appoint someone from the
office, it would be near impossible for the new attorney general
to take action against his own colleagues. So, the vacancy had to
be filled with an expert from outside.

While Rachman was sworn in on Wednesday, many people were in
the dark about his track record. He was known among a small
circle and, although he once worked for Lopa and received special
guidance from him, that does equate to inheriting Lopa's
character.

The President has faced an extremely difficult assignment.
However, judging by her instruction to the new attorney general
that he make his new house clean -- because it has been
notoriously dirty in the eyes of the public -- Megawati must be
convinced that Rachman is an honest man. At least the most honest
among all the candidates. We hope that the new attorney general
will not be the first point of weakness within the Cabinet.