Is Soeharto that poor?

Nobody can blame Indonesians for believing that former president Soeharto and his family are worth more than US$15 billion, as reported by TIME magazine this week.

Many people in the street here reacted to the magazine's article, which was widely quoted by local newspapers yesterday, by saying that Attorney General Andi M. Ghalib should file a lawsuit against the American magazine because it has insulted this nation by saying that its "fallen hero" is so unfortunate that he and his family managed to amass only $15 billion during his 32 years of authoritarian rule.

Ghalib has claimed that he was hard at work trying to investigate Soeharto's wealth but had found nothing unlawful. However, he seems to forget that making a statement is one thing, but trying to make people believe it is another matter.

People here strongly believe that Soeharto, who was forced to step down by a people-power movement exactly one year ago, is one of the richest former dictators around because he is craftier than any other autocrats, living or dead, from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, South America or Africa. This belief comes from the fact that his children do not try to hide their fortune.

To many people, Soeharto's habit of inserting moral lessons into each of his speeches at ceremonies commemorating religious events here during his tenure was not only hypocritical, but also just a PR gimmick.

If Ghalib is as serious as he claims to be, he should substantiate his investigation by summoning the TIME editors and questioning them about the truth of their magazine report and beg them to provide him with material so that Dr. Amien Rais, the chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN), and other citizens who are impatient to read the attorney general's success story from his "crusade" will at least feel a little rest assured.

However, anyone who believes that he will be sincere enough to do that will no doubt be greatly disappointed. The Attorney General's Office did not even react when members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) last year staged a demonstration to demand the law enforcement agency file a lawsuit against Forbes magazine for its "libelous" report claiming that Soeharto had amassed stakes in about 3,200 Indonesian companies and a family fortune of about $4 billion. Nor did the office question Soeharto over the matter.

At least the government's and Soeharto's reactions were not as emotional as when The Sydney Morning Heard, a leading Australian newspaper, carried a similar report on the Soeharto family's alleged wealth in April 1986.

Back then, the Indonesian authorities denied entry to nine Australian journalists who applied for permission to cover a Soeharto-U.S. president Ronald Reagan meeting in Bali, and then minister of research and technology B.J. Habibie (now president) canceled his planned visit to Australia to show Indonesia's displeasure.

About 200 members of the Indonesian National Youth Committee (KNPI), a Soeharto organization, also staged a noisy demonstration outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta to protest the newspaper report. David Jenkins, the article writer, was later banned entry into Indonesia.

Today, despite Ghalib's repeated rhetorics, perhaps deep down he too believes that only a few Indonesians are convinced that the government has been serious in its investigation of Soeharto's alleged wealth, although Habibie will have to present his accountability to the newly elected People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in November.

A rejection of his accountability speech by the country's highest constitutional body will bury Habibie's dream for reelection. But the President seems to be very confident that, with the support of the military faction and other appointed MPR members, his Golkar Party will manage to defeat the opposition.

So, the regime will continue its game of the so-called sincere probe into Soeharto because it is very sure that time will be on its side.

But Habibie has forgotten one thing: by demonstrating such complacence, he is eloquently ridiculing Indonesians' power to force reform -- especially for clean governance -- by peaceful means.