Like parrots, our leaders heap praise on Soeharto

Like parrots, our leaders heap praise on Soeharto

Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post

My hands were clasped at waist level in a submissive,
defensive posture, as one of Soeharto's most feared aides told me
in a hotel in Cairo that Soeharto was very angry with me for
misquoting the then-president in saying that he was ready to end
his 32-year tenure.

"It's not my fault Pak," I said desperately, trembling.

It was still morning at that time, May 13, 1998, when CNN
quoted Reuters as reporting that Soeharto was about to step down.
The news agency itself wrongly identified its source, a major
national newspaper, as The Jakarta Post.

One day earlier, massive riots had hit Jakarta following the
killing of four Trisakti University students. At that time
Soeharto was in Cairo attending a summit of 15 developing
countries. Soeharto finally quit on May 21.

When Soeharto celebrated his 77th birthday on June 8, about
three weeks after his resignation, this newspaper reported, "Less
than a month ago, 202 million Indonesian people called him
president, but now only his trained parrot at home -- screeching
'Good morning Bapak President' -- does." As Soeharto was no
longer in power, the reporter who wrote about the parrot had no
need to place his hands over his abdomen.

The parrot died some years later -- according to a Soeharto
aide, the bird suffered a stroke -- but the bird should be very
pleased with itself and the example it set. All of his boss's
four successors -- B.J. Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati
Soekarnoputri up to the present Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono -- have
all dutifully followed the parrot's example. In fact, they
treated the nation's second president even better than the bird.

All of them were very reluctant to force him into court to
face corruption and human rights abuse allegations. All of them
apparently believed -- at least in public -- that Soeharto would
never recover from his sickness, which was used by the courts as
a reason not to start his trials. It is as if all the president's
after Soeharto did not want to believe that maybe some day he
might get better, thus dispensing with periodical medical check-
ups to ascertain whether he was still sick.

Like or not, however, it was probably a pragmatic decision
taken in their own interests. None these four leaders want to be
aggravated by issues of corruption and abuse of power when they
are no longer in their position.

It is advisable that anyone wanting to bring Soeharto to
justice learn from the experience of Andi M. Ghalib, an attorney
general in Habibie's Cabinet. While he was visiting Switzerland
and Austria ostensibly hunting for Soeharto's money in June 1999,
Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) made the astounding revelation
that Ghalib and his wife had received about Rp 1.8 billion in
deposits from problematic conglomerates. He lost his Cabinet job.

Soeharto himself has denied all allegations. He even swore
that he did not have one cent in an overseas bank. (Perhaps it
was difficult to find a bank that would accept such a small
deposit). The former first family now live in peace and
contentment in their fortified compound in leafy Menteng.

Soeharto has just got out of the hospital, and he will turn
84 next month. Dare we disturb his peaceful life? After seven
years, more and more people are lining up to say nice things
about him. They recall our high economic growth during his rule.
Sure, there was corruption and his greedy children, but people
also miss the glamorous development of the 1980s and early 1990s.
Many people blamed his children, rather than Soeharto himself, as
the main cause of the economic collapse in 1997.

Should the nation forgive him without first prosecuting him in
a court of law? Some people have suggested that he should
apologize to the nation for his past wrongdoings.

A colleague suggested some wisdom: "The verdict of history has
already been written about him. Such a verdict is much more
painful to him and his family compared to formal court verdicts."

It is merely false hope to expect the current government to
bring this man to justice. Even students have now lost their
appetite for protesting against him, meaning Soeharto can
continue to live out his peaceful existence.

So, just what are we supposed to do with this old man?