Law needed to probe Presidential 'affairs'

JAKARTA (JP): The bill on the presidency now being drafted by the House of Representatives should include a provision that allows for investigations into allegations of extramarital affairs involving the head of state, a legal expert said.

Criminologist Adrianus Meliala of the University of Indonesia said on Tuesday the bill could stipulate the appointment of an independent attorney to investigate sex scandals featuring the president.

"The independent attorney should be financed by the state," Adrianus said in a discussion on sex and politics held by the university's political sciences laboratory.

President Abdurrahman Wahid was hit by an allegation early this month that he was romantically involved with a married woman in 1995-1996 when he was chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest Islamic organization.

Police have launched an investigation into Aryanti Sitepu, the Jakarta woman who supplied the details, and the two magazines that initially reported the alleged affair. They are facing possible defamation charges.

The President has dismissed the allegation and denied any knowledge of the woman.

Adrianus said Indonesia could follow the United States' model, which appointed independent attorney Kenneth Star to investigate President Bill Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Adrianus said however that even if a presidency bill was enacted, a president could not be prosecuted for misdemeanors that took place before he or she assumed office.

"The scandals must have occurred in his or her term in office to be investigated, and there must be evidence that they affected the government's performance and policy," he said.

Adrianus said he thought that the police investigation of the women at the center of the scandal involving President Abdurrahman would be discontinued because police would hesitate to question the head of state.

The House is currently drafting a bill that would regulate the conduct of the president.

Legislator Slamet Effendy Yusuf of the Golkar Party agreed that there was no need for the House to investigate the scandal because the alleged affair happened before Abdurrahman became president. He stressed that what he did then was a personal matter.

"But we could still question why the President denied any knowledge of Aryanti. Why did he lie?" Slamet said.

He said many House members were reluctant to press for an investigation because they were probably conducting extramarital affairs themselves.

Slamet said (Indonesian) society seemed to accept polygamy practiced by charismatic leaders. "Some parents even hand over their girls to a kyai (religious leader)," he said. (jun)