No plan to replace Rachman: Mega

No plan to replace Rachman: Mega

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite corruption allegations against him, Attorney General M.A.
Rachman is likely to keep his post, at least for now, as
President Megawati Soekarnoputri has decided to turn a deaf ear
to public demands for her hand-picked chief prosecutor to be
replaced.

Megawati, speaking to a delegation from the Indonesian Muslim
Students Association (PMMI), said on Monday that she had no plans
to replace Attorney General Rachman, whose assets were intensely
investigated by the Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission
(KPKPN), for allegedly concealing his wealth.

"The Attorney General will not be replaced because even if he
is replaced there will be no assurance for any better law
enforcement," Megawati was quoted by PMII chairman Nusron Wahid
as saying.

Rachman has come under fire for allegedly not reporting his
wealth -- namely a house worth billions of rupiah, two cars and a
Rp 800 million time deposit account -- to KPKPN, a committee in
charge of auditing the wealth of civil servants and high-ranking
state officials for possible corruption practices.

In the course of the investigation, Rachman had given
conflicting statements, prompting anticorruption campaigners and
civil society groups to call for his replacement.

Rachman's aide Kito Irkamini told KPKPN that he helped Rachman
transfer the ownership of a luxury house in Graha Cinere, Depok,
worth Rp 1.8 billion (US$200,000) to his eldest daughter
Chairunnisa.

To the commission, Rachman said that the house belonged to his
daughter since July 2001 and he repeatedly changed his statements
regarding the financial sources to buy such a luxurious house.

Rachman also changed his explanation on his Rp 800 million
time deposit. First he said the money came from a consultancy
service offered to a businessman in East Java, but in his latest
statement submitted to KPKPN he said that the money came from
accumulation of his travel allowance for more than 37 years as a
state prosecutor.

Rachman, according to non-governmental organizations, has lost
his moral authority to lead the country's fight against
corruption.

Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan) joined in the calls for her to find a new attorney
general.

But according to Megawati, replacing Rachman would make no
difference to law enforcement in the country.

According to Megawati, negative reports about Rachman were
nothing more than political maneuvers from certain groups, not a
sincere attempt to uphold the law.

"The President said that all of those reports against Rachman
were merely political maneuvers and not because of the fight
against corruption," Nusron said.

Nusron said the President claimed to have urged Rachman to
move forward with several corruption cases in the country to
settle them soon.

"She said that she had ordered Rachman to quickly settle many
corruption cases as part of the government's commitment to
fighting such practices," he said.

Her final decision on the matter, which came on the same day
that news about her new villa in Sentul, West Java broke out, has
dealt a serious blow to all those opposed to the attorney
general's replacement, although it is doubtful that they will
remain silent.

When asked whether PMII was satisfied with the President's
statement regarding the decision on Rachman, Nusron replied: "Of
course not, but it was the President's answer."