Ministers wary over telephone bugging
Ministers wary over telephone bugging
By Kornelius Purba
JAKARTA (JP): The uproar over the recently leaked telephone
conversation between President B.J. Habibie and Attorney General
Lt. Gen. A.M. Ghalib has forced some ministers to reduce usage of
their telephones, especially the cellular variety.
One of the ministers warned phonetappers their activities were
a major sin.
When asked by journalists before attending a Cabinet meeting
on Wednesday, six ministers pointed out they have used the
tapping uproar as a valuable lesson on the maintenance of their
own security. Coordinating Minister for Political and Security
Affairs Gen. (ret) Feisal Tanjung angrily replied he never used
telephones.
"On confidential matters, we must be careful, but for other
subjects, go ahead," Coordinating Minister for Development
Supervision and Administrative Reforms Hartarto said.
"Tapping is not tolerable. The people who tapped the
conversation of Habibie must be found. It is a sin," Minister of
Food and Horticulture A.M. Saefuddin said before attending a
Cabinet meeting on political and security affairs at the Bina
Graha presidential office.
Saefuddin likened bugging to voyeurism, which is forbidden and
deserves divine punishment in the afterlife.
"Bugging is similar to peeping. In my religion, if anyone is a
voyeur, his eyes will be poked by angels' fingers," Saefuddin
said.
The news weekly Panji Masyarakat sparked controversy last
month by carrying the full transcript of a conversation allegedly
between Habibie and Ghalib. The conversation apparently took
place not long after Ghalib questioned former president Soeharto
for three hours on Dec. 9.
"If we had held the questioning for only two hours, people
would be wondering what other comedies we were staging," Ghalib
told Habibie, according to the transcript.
Habibie has yet to make any official comment on the
authenticity of the conversation, but blasted the bugging as a
violation of his rights.
Ghalib insisted the conversation never occurred. He also said
it was impossible any tapping could happen at his office, while
palace officials insisted that telephone lines in the palace and
Habibie's private residence in Kuningan had been secured.
Politicians, students and government critics have condemned
Habibie, taking the conversation as proof that he did not have
the guts to bring Soeharto, his former mentor, to court as
mandated by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).
"We must realize that we must be cautious when speaking on the
phone. If there is any conversation which should not be known to
the public, then it is better not to use the telephone," Minister
of Social Services Justika Baharsjah said.
"No, I never use my telephone. OK?!" Feisal snapped at The
Jakarta Post when asked about his reaction to the scandal.
Ghalib could not be asked on Wednesday, because, along with
Minister of Justice Muladi, he is on a visit to the United States
to attend an international conference on corruption eradication.
Ghalib once compared the investigation into Soeharto's alleged
corruption and abuses of power with the probe of a chicken theft.
Then he said the thief could not be punished if the stolen
chicken could not be presented as evidence.
"In their mastery of the technology, people should take into
account morals and ethics because if we must deal with all
tapping crimes, it will be very costly," State Minister of
Research and Technology Zuhal commented.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said his ministry had
its own ways of averting possible tapping of its
telecommunications traffic.
"We have a closed communication system which has been encoded
and scrambled. It is something routine at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs," Alatas said.
The minister took the opportunity then to blast press reports
of the telephone conversation.
"Bugging can happen especially in this high technology era,
and of course it remains regrettable, especially the publicity,"
the senior diplomat said.
Minister of Education Juwono Sudarsono gave a cautious
response. He said his comment might worsen the situation.
"The best lesson from this tapping controversy is not to give
too much comment," he said with a big smile.
Minister of Manpower Fahmi Idris described how he was
mistakenly called Herman by an unidentified caller who asked him
about the fate of the caller's logs.
"I replied, oh, I have burned them," he recalled.
"We must be cautious, we must not talk too much on the phone,"
Fahmi added.
Justika said she once received a strange call on her cellular
phone in which the caller warned her that her telephone might be
tapped.
"Ibu, our voices may be bugged," the mysterious caller said.