Indonesia needs self-cleansing, says lawyer

JAKARTA (JP): After decades of political and economical mismanagement, Indonesia needs to go through a self-cleansing process to purify itself, a noted lawyer said at a discussion on Monday.

Todung Mulya Lubis said throughout this time human rights violations were rampant and the interests of the elite got the better of common people.

The Rp 546 billion Bank Bali fiasco (US$73 million at the current rate) has tarnished Indonesia's image, he said.

"Being classified as the world's sixth most corrupt country means that much of the national wealth was abused and robbed," he told about 60 participants at a talk on "Postelection Total Reconciliation." It was held by a reform research center and a local branch of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).

Self-cleansing from various political and economic abuses, Lubis said, was among prerequisites for reconciliation. Another condition, he said, was legal enforcement.

Lubis said the new government should respect the law and initiate legal processes of past wrongdoings as a reflection of its seriousness to reform.

"Many members of the political elite in Indonesia are not yet ready for democratization and cannot accept the fact that they have lost the battle," he said.

He said that law supremacy was not supposed to be used as a tool for revenge. Citing the government's feet dragging with its investigation on Soeharto's allegedly ill-gained wealth, he said if rules were broken then sanctions ought to be imposed.

Using the law for revenge would only repeat the country's history of mistakes, he said.

On reconciliation, he said he had yet to see efforts in that direction.

"What has happened so far is the intensification of polarization among various political groupings which in turn will destroy the real efforts toward reconciliation," he said.

Reconciliation would also need the amendment of the 1945 Constitution, Lubis said, adding that the founding fathers did not rule out a possible amendment to the basic law, especially because it was made in an emergency situation.

"The 1945 Constitution tends to encourage repression and autocracy with a predominant role given on the executives branch," he said, adding that the Constitution did not support a strong Supreme Court.

Another speaker, Theo Sambuaga of the ruling Golkar Party and also state minister of public housing and resettlement, also said the Constitution needed refinement since it had created multiple interpretations or contradictions.

Lubis said it would be better that the 200 members of interest and regional groups undergoing appointment in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) were totally scrapped.

The nonelected 200 together with the 500 members of the House of Representatives (DPR) make up the Assembly, which will elect the president and vice president in November.

Calls for the elimination of the 200 appointed MPR members have increased in recent weeks. The Indonesian Military (TNI), which did not vote, is also accorded 38 seats in the House.

Theo said matters relating to the presidential election should be left to the Assembly to decide.

On the victory of PDI Perjuangan, Lubis said that people should respect the party for its accomplishment and, with the simple majority, Megawati was entitled to become the next president.

"Megawati is authorized to say 'I am your president'. She is not only the leader of a party," he said to the audience's applause.

Regarding Aceh, Lubis quoted noted American-Indonesian Ben Anderson who said that the Indonesian government wanted Aceh to be part of the country, but it failed to ensure stability and to improve the welfare of the Acehnese.

The same goes with Irian Jaya and East Timor, Lubis said.

"If there is no policy change, repressions will still prevail in the troubled provinces," he said. Reconciliation will be impossible in such conditions, he said. (06)