JP/6/OTHER2

The Attorney General's party

The wedding reception of the daughter of Attorney General M.A. Rachman made headlines, with two legislators lambasting the party which they said cost Rp 500 million with an invitation list of 5,000 people. Spokesman of the Attorney General's office Barman Zahir however, said the reception was far from luxurious and that there were only some 200 invitees.

Rather than fussing over the party it is the performance of the Attorney General's office which is more important. On June 10 prosecutors of the Bank Indonesia liquidity fund (BLBI) case, in which the defendant was Samadikun Hartono of the Bank Modern, only demanded one year imprisonment for Samadikun, who is charged of robbing the state -- the taxpayers -- of Rp 169 billion.

Actually so many corruption cases involving the Bank Indonesia liquidity funds handled by the Attorney General's office have become unclear. The office's earlier pledge to settle all cases by August 2002 has been prolonged to December. The list of other unresolved cases is very long.

Without so many vanishing cases, there may be some truth in President Megawati Soekarnoputri's earlier warning against the AGO being a forum for the "buying and selling" of cases.

Investor, Jakarta