Observers say people want the return of Soeharto era

Observers say people want the return of Soeharto era

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The public at large are disappointed with the sluggish process of
reform, including in the legal sector, and have begun to hope for
the return to the old system under former authoritarian president
Soeharto who, with his iron fist, managed to make the people
abide by the law, legal observers said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Tracing Democracy and Law Enforcement Road in
Indonesia seminar, constitutional expert Satya Arinanto said that
people at the grass roots were currently suffering from SARS or
Sindrom Aku Rindu Soeharto (I-miss-Soeharto Syndrome).

"This SARS arises because the people are disappointed with the
slow reform process, including in the legal sector," Satya told
the seminar, which was jointly organized by the Indonesian
Institute of Sciences and the Hanns Seidel Foundation.

According to Satya, current legal reforms were focusing too
much on legal structures and substances such as commissions and
legislation without building the legal culture, which was also an
important aspect.

He said the absence of legal culture development, worsened by
weak law enforcement, had resulted in frequent legal violations.

The slow and weak reform process, he said, was used by
elements of the New Order -- the so-called regime of Soeharto --
to boost their interests.

A survey sponsored by the Asia Foundation revealed on Monday
that the majority of eligible voters for the next year's general
elections wanted a strong leader like Soeharto.

Last week, Concern for the Nation Functional Party (PKPB)
nominated Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti
Rukmana as its candidate in 2004, when the country holds for the
first time in its history a direct presidential election.

PKPB chairman Gen. (ret) Raden Hartono, former Army chief
under Soeharto, proudly claimed that the party carried programs
of the old Golkar Party, the political tool of Soeharto for more
than three decades.

Meanwhile, human rights lawyer Bambang Widjojanto supported
Satya's opinion that elements of the New Order were taking
advantage of the slow process of reform.

"Besides SARS, I also heard that the current Golkar Party
would campaign for security, welfare and enough food as they did
in the past," said Bambang of the Center for Electoral Reform
(Cetro).

Both Bambang and Satya claimed that the current process of
reform had to be pursued, urging the people to be patient as it
would take time.

They suggested that the experiences of Thailand and Germany in
the reform of their law and legislation were worthy enough to be
learned.

Meanwhile, Kittisak Prokati from Thammasat University of
Thailand agreed that the reform process would take time, but was
worthy of being reached.

"I agree that the process is a bitter pill we have to swallow.
But it's worthy to do it, like us in Thailand," Prokati said in
the seminar.

Like Indonesia, he said, Thailand reformed its legal sector,
including establishing an anticorruption commission and an audit
commission on state officials' wealth.

He revealed that since the beginning of the economic crisis in
1997, two ministers had been dismissed for alleged corruption.

Professor Goerisch of Muenster University of Germany suggested
that laws should be based on democratic principles, including
serving the interests of the majority of the people.

"Law and democracy could not be separated. Without democracy,
the law is only a regulation that serves certain interests,"
Goerisch said in the seminar.