Investigating wealth a foregone conclusion

It took only 10 minutes for the House of Representatives (DPR), in a plenary session attended by 58 members (which is less than required quorum), to approve 45 names to sit on a commission to investigate the wealth of civil servants. This is an effort to combat the illegal accumulation of wealth by civil servants and to bring about a clean government, at least in theory.

How will the commission fare in practice? Critics are already blaming the DPR over what they say were unclear selection criteria, lacking transparency and smelling of party favoritism. The list has been submitted to the President for approval.

He can select 20 or 30 people to sit on the commission of investigation set up on the basis of article 15 of Law 28, 1999. However, when the head of state signed the bill into law, he himself was considered to be free of any blame or suspicion of abuse of power or funds. Now he is facing the Bulog, Brunei and Laksamana-Kalla scandals.

After a long and frantic chase with the blessing of students and the media, Abdurrahman's administration still has to deal the strongly defended Soeharto investigation and signs are that the result will be a pardon by the President for the suspected and guilty parties.

The list of wealth, as will be reported by the civil servants during the commission's inquiries, will be a disappointingly meager catch, full, not of fish, but lies. Sorry, to be so prejudiced, but in view of the prevailing corruption mentality, perhaps with a few cases of honest and idealistic souls, the commission's result will be a foregone conclusion.

It will turn out to be a waste of time, energy and money by the commission in determining the true wealth of the government employees which is not hidden somewhere in the country or overseas in the form of foreign currencies, homes, cars, stocks and other interests. Hopefully, God will bless the commission and its ambitious members. But I can already hear the devil laughing at the end results.

Allow me to lament: Heaven, why do you allow the elite of this paradise to believe that hiding the truth and cheating and stealing to be an achievement, not a sin or a shame?

GANDHI SUKARDI

Jakarta