Phone leak rocks Habibie

JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie has called for a high level investigation into how a telephone conversation he had with Attorney General Andi M. Ghalib was leaked to the public.

The order followed the publication of a transcript of the conversation in the latest issue of Pandji Masyarakat magazine which hit the streets on Thursday.

The authenticity of the conversation, in which the two men discussed ongoing investigations against two prominent critics of the government and former president Soeharto, remained unclear.

On Thursday morning, Minister/State Secretary Akbar Tandjung, as reported by the Suara Pembaruan afternoon paper, said he doubted its authenticity. But at midday he then announced Habibie's order of investigation into what he described as a "leakage".

Ghalib has also denied that the conversation ever took place, according to Antara.

The commercial station ANteve aired the taped conversation in its evening news bulletin on Thursday, while Pandji cautioned readers that the voices simply sounded like Habibie and Ghalib, and in the absence of confirmation, were not necessarily theirs.

Pandji said the conversation apparently took place around Dec. 10, a day after Soeharto was summoned by government attorneys to answer questions about corrupt practices during his rule.

Akbar told reporters at Merdeka Palace that Habibie had instructed Gen. Wiranto, the Minister of Defense/Armed Forces Commander to launch the investigation.

"The President has instructed all related officials to take firm steps to find out who leaked the conversation, and who bugged it, if indeed that was the method used."

He said such action amounted to an invasion of a person's right to privacy, a punishable offense.

"It could only have been done by someone with high capability and strong financial backing," Akbar said, adding that he had also ordered his office to tighten security on all phone conversations around the presidential palace.

While not giving names, Akbar indicated that the person responsible may be someone who once served the nation, perhaps a former vice president or a former cabinet minister. "The investigation must be carried out in accordance with the law, but it will also pay heed to the services of that person to the nation."

Ghalib said separately the voice in the tape was not his and he could not recall ever making such a conversation with Habibie.

"They have fabricated our voices. After all, they are able to do that with photos," Ghalib said before attending a limited cabinet meeting to discuss the political and security situation, in which the affair was also discussed.

He regretted that Pandji had decided to run the story, including publishing the transcript of the discussion, without confirming its authenticity with him beforehand.

"We, the public, seem to be easily affected by news that is not necessarily accurate," he said.

Pandji in its report said it had tried, unsuccessfully, to obtain confirmation from Ghalib and Habibie's aides.

Chief Editor S. Sinansari Ecip told The Jakarta Post that Ghalib did not take up the magazine's offer to rebut the story before it went to print.

"We journalists are trained to be skeptical. That's why we contacted various people to check the authenticity of the conversation," he said.

Sinansari said the magazine would be ready to face a court action from the government.

Police separately announced Thursday that they had set up a team to investigate the affair.

The team of detectives was recruited from the general crimes unit dealing with monitoring the behavior of the news media, National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Togar M. Sianipar said.

There were two main violations to investigate: the tapping and the dissemination of the transcript of the conversation, he said.

Palace sources said Habibie ordered a thorough check of the phone system when he moved in last May, but this did not guarantee that it was entirely foolproof.

They also said Habibie often used his cellular phone -- which is more susceptible to tapping -- during the course of the day.

In Bandung, PT Telkom, the state-run domestic telephone services company, said certain procedures must be fulfilled before anyone could tap the phone conversations of other people.

"Not every one can tap other people's phones," Telkom vice president for communications D. Amerudien told The Jakarta Post.

Telkom has always strived to protect the security and secrecy of all its clients, particularly government officials, Amerudien said. (prb/emf/emb/aan/43)