Politics and the law

Politics and the law

What hidden motives, if any, are there behind the planned
investigation of politicians opposed to President Abdurrahman
Wahid by the newly installed Attorney General, Baharuddin Lopa?
As it happens, among the names that the attorney general
mentioned last Wednesday as candidates for his investigation into
suspected acts of corruption, collusion and nepotism -- crimes
popularly known as "KKN" -- are members of the House of
Representatives (DPR) who have in past months been highly
critical of the President and are strong advocates of the holding
of a special session by the nation's supreme policy-making body,
the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), which could potentially
lead to Abdurrahman's impeachment.

One of the two legislators threatened with investigation is
Arifin Panigoro, who is a prominent businessman and faction
leader in the House of Representatives for the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), which has the
biggest number of seats in the DPR; the other is Akbar Tandjung,
who besides being speaker of the House is also chairman of the
party that holds the second biggest number of seats in the House,
Golkar.

Both have been highly critical of the President's performance
since he came to power in October 1999 and both are strong
supporters of calling a special session of the MPR. Another
politician in the same position is Alvin Lie, of the National
Mandate Party (PAN), which is chaired by MPR Speaker Amien Rais,
another outspoken critic of the President. Corruption charges
were earlier handed down to another leading Golkar figure,
Ginandjar Kartasasmita, who was a mining minister under president
Soeharto, and Nurdin Halid, another Golkar politician and member
of the House.

Not all the candidates to be investigated for suspected acts
of corruption, collusion and nepotism under the former New Order
regime of president Soeharto are politicians. Finding themselves
in the same boat are business tycoons such as Prajogo Pangestu,
Sinivasan Marimutu and Sjamsul Nursalim. In June 1999, however, a
South Jakarta District Court cleared Arifin of any wrongdoing in
the issuance of Rp. 1.8 trillion in promissory notes in his
capacity as president commissioner of the oil company PT Medco
Central Asia, a subsidiary of the Medco group of companies. An
earlier investigation into Akbar Tandjung's case was halted for
lack of evidence.

One thing everybody in Indonesia is agreed on is that all
citizens should stand equal before the law. In principle,
legislators and business tycoons deserve no special privileges
where the enforcement of the law is concerned. So why, then, the
lively public debate over the impending investigations? It is,
perhaps, first and foremost a measure of the loss of popular
trust in President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" that this question
should at present be prominent in the minds of millions of
Indonesians. In fact, speculation of impending measures against
the President's political opponents began to surface as soon as
it became known that Attorney General Marzuki Darusman was to be
replaced by Baharuddin Lopa.

Lopa, for that matter has long enjoyed a reputation as a man
of impeccable conduct with enough guts to pursue justice. Many
Indonesians hope that they will be proven right in their trust
and that Lopa will be able to stick to his principles and evade
the lure of personal benefits that politics can bring. To be able
to keep the public's trust, however, Baharuddin Lopa will have to
convincingly demonstrate his impartiality. By reviving cases
against Gus Dur's political adversaries that have already been
dismissed in previous court hearings, Lopa is risking his
reputation. Indonesians can only hope that he will prove himself
to be man the public believes he is.