Juwono calls for political solution to Soeharto case

JAKARTA (JP): Political observer Juwono Sudarsono proposed on Monday a political settlement to resolve the fate of former president Soeharto once and for all, and so allow the nation to move forward.

Juwono, a scholar who served as Indonesia's first civilian minister of defense until August, proposed that the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) should distinguish between Soeharto as a statesman and Soeharto as a patriarch who abused his power during his 32-year tenure.

The first scenario would recognize Soeharto's contribution to the nation's progress while the second would allow the country to seize by force the assets of the former first family, he said.

"If we fail to resolve the fate of Soeharto by the time of the next MPR session (in August), this issue will go on for years," Juwono told The Jakarta Post.

"We have already wasted so much energy and effort on Soeharto. We need to move forward with a clean slate," said Juwono, who has now returned to teaching political science at the University of Indonesia.

He added that the proposal would spare the aging Soeharto from having to go to jail because he would then be recognized as a statesman. This privilege, however, would not extend to members of his family, he added.

The government of President Abdurrahman Wahid has failed in its attempts to pin the former tyrant with any of the crimes he was alleged to have committed during his tenure.

The first attempt to bring him to court in August following months of protracted investigations failed when the judges ruled that he was too ill to appear in court to answer charges of corruption. The Jakarta high court, however, has overturned the ruling and said that the trial must proceed. Soeharto's lawyers have now appealed against that decision to the Supreme Court.

The effort to bring Soeharto to court has failed in spite of President Abdurrahman's repeated promises to pardon Soeharto as soon as the court had convicted him.

The government has also been after the former first family and last month won a Supreme Court case against Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra. Tommy, however, disappeared prior to beginning his 18-month jail term.

Juwono said that unless the nation determined the fate of Soeharto quickly, then many other cases of political crimes and human rights abuses would not be resolved as they would eventually be linked to the former head of state.

"We owe it to him, to differentiate between him as a statesman and him as head of a family who abused power," said Juwono, who served under three presidents, namely Soeharto, B.J. Habibie, and Abdurrahman, albeit briefly in each case. (emb)