More protests being staged against Haryanto

More protests being staged against Haryanto

JAKARTA (JP): Three groups held separate demonstrations in
Jakarta yesterday over the government's disclosure that Minister
of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto is under investigation for
alleged misconduct.

Forty students from the Association of Moslem Students and the
Communication Forum for Islamic University Students filed
petitions at the Attorney General's Office demanding a thorough
investigations into the allegations.

"We support clean government," read one of the banners
unfurled during the brief protest.

Attorney General spokesman Pontas Pasaribu said the government
would look into the allegations but would not form a special
investigation team.

Another demonstration outside the Ministry of Transportation
on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta, was dispersed by
police.

The 15 protesters distributed statements by Pijar Indonesia
(Center for Information and Action Network for Reform) and the
Center for Information and Education on Human Rights (PIPHAM).

Pijar's statement called for Haryanto's resignation and
transparency in relation to the wealth of government officials
and their families.

PIPHAM demanded an anti-corruption law which includes the
public disclosure of officials' wealth, "from the President to
the heads of sub-districts." Disclosure of the wealth of
official's families should also be mandatory, the group said.

Fosko 66, a group of former student activists, sent a
statement saying that Haryanto should resign pending an official
investigation.

Haryanto visited Vice President Try Sutrisno yesterday at the
latter's official residence on Jl. Diponegoro, their third
meeting over the affair.

"We held a long discussion. I gave him everything down to the
smallest details," Haryanto told reporters later. "He asked me to
wait. I will be summoned by the President."

Try has been asked by President Soeharto to follow up on a
series of reports filed by Inspector General for Development
Kentot Harseno listing instances of alleged misconduct --
including nepotism, favoritism and financial mismanagement -- on
the part of Haryanto since he took charge of the Ministry of
Transportation in 1993.

Copies of Harseno's reports, which are classified government
documents, were leaked to the media last week.

The allegations against Haryanto, as reported by the press,
include the removal of Anwar Supriyadi as president of state
railway company Perumka as a result of a personal disliking.

Anwar, a highly-respected official, had apparently been
questioning the use of Perumka funds for the construction of
Haryanto's personal residence in Bandung, according to the
report.

Also on the list, the alleged use of US$244,000 of funds
belonging to national flag carrier Garuda by Haryanto's wife
during a trip to Europe, and the use of Rp 2.8 billion ($1.2
million) to pay for a racing car and a race driving course for
his son, Kikik, in the United States.

The reports, based on allegations by the ministry's top
echelon, claimed that the minister rarely used Garuda when
traveling overseas, yet the carrier was expected to pick up the
tab for his trips.

All state companies under the ministry are required to pay
special levies which are used to pay for the minister's overseas
trips, according to press reports.

Political analyst Arbi Sanit of the University of Indonesia
said yesterday that the allegations are particularly detrimental
to the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI) and
its chairman, B.J. Habibie, who is also state minister of
research and technology.

Haryanto sits on the ICMI board.

"Morally, Habibie bears some responsibility, as he brought
Haryanto into the cabinet," Arbi said.

Arbi said that whoever leaked the documents to the public had
intended to weaken ICMI.

Asked whether such political rivalry would hurt the public,
Arbi said "we can just watch and enjoy" the highlighting of the
misuse of public funds.

Amien Rais of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, and a
member of ICMI board, agreed that the affair is damaging ICMI and
Habibie.

"Some groups do not like Habibie's stress on reform and prefer
the status quo," Amien said

The "political game is highly unfair because other corruptors
have walked away unscathed," he said.

The anti-Habibie groups are using the momentum of the removal
of former minister of trade Satrio J.B. Joedono earlier this
month to target Haryanto and possibly to remove Habibie, Amien
said.

"But I am convinced that the President will not follow the
wishes of these wild groups just like that," he said without
identifying anyone in particular. (imn/pwn/har/01/swe/anr)