Indonesia needs self-cleansing, says lawyer

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)