Justice for Soeharto

Justice for Soeharto

Trouble seems always to be just around the corner for the
Soeharto family these days. Even as police continued to search
for the former president's youngest son, the Jakarta High Court
yesterday reversed an earlier decision by the South Jakarta
District Court, opening the way for resumption of the corruption
trial against the patriarch. The Jakarta High Court also ordered
Soeharto's city arrest status to be reinstated.

The sickly 79-year-old former president is accused of having
misappropriated state funds valued at US$571 million by funneling
money from seven charity foundations, which he chaired, into
businesses belonging to cronies and family members.

For security reasons, the venue for Soeharto's first trial was
in an improvised courtroom in a sprawling building belonging to
the Ministry of Agriculture. Still, the short-lived trial was
marked by violent demonstrations staged by both his opponents and
his supporters.

The South Jakarta District Court, after hearing the opinion of
a team of doctors on Sept. 28 decided to drop the case on the
grounds that Soeharto was physically and mentally unfit to stand
trial. In its decision released on Wednesday, the High Court
overturned the decision, saying the South Jakarta District Court
had ignored a number of facts related to the case.

So far, Soeharto and his youngest son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala
Putra (37), are the only two members of the Soeharto clan who
have been taken to court for their wrongdoings, real or alleged,
committed during the three decades that Soeharto ruled the
country.

Given the nearly unlimited prerogatives which the family
enjoyed until Soeharto's downfall in 1998, and given the still
widespread charges of power abuse and corruption that are being
hurled at them by critics, it is by no means unlikely that more
members of the clan will be called to account in the months and
years ahead.

Lamentably for the Soeharto family, retribution for past
misdeeds, either real or perceived, is of paramount importance to
restore the credibility of a government that was elected on high
hopes of democratic reform and on the expectation that it would
have both the authority and the political will to establish good
and clean governance after more than three decades of rampant
corruption.

Unfortunately, severe economic problems persist and the
prospect for an all-out cleanup of the bureaucracy remains as
distant and as illusive as a desert mirage. Burdened as they are
with the daily problem of making ends meet and weary of the
seemingly continual eruptions of violence, Indonesians are in no
mood to forgive and forget.

In the present situation, what Indonesians should hope for is
that the government and its law enforcement agencies remain
steadfast in their dedication to justice and to the principle
that all citizens stand equal before the law. Obviously, this
principle must apply to all members of the Soeharto family and
their cronies if equality before the law is to be more than an
empty slogan.

Soeharto and any other citizen who is found guilty of
committing wrongdoings must be penalized. But let the courts
decide, after truly impartial consideration, if they are guilty.
Justice must be even-handed and administered without prejudice.
Consequently, the law must not be used an instrument of cold
revenge, however strong our feelings. If that happens, we will be
back at square one, and all the efforts and all the sacrifices
that have been made in the name of justice and democracy will
have been in vain.