Probe into Soeharto's wealth on the agenda

Probe into Soeharto's wealth on the agenda

JAKARTA (JP): A Special Session commission assigned to issue a
decree on clean governance will on Friday continue to debate
whether provision for an investigation into former president
Soeharto should be included in a separate decree.

On Thursday, the United Development Party (PPP) faction in the
People's Consultative Assembly insisted that a separate decree
was necessary, a proposal rejected by other factions, which said
that any order for an investigation should be included in the
decree on clean governance. The factions finally agreed to defer
making a decision until Friday.

The dominant factions, Golkar and the Armed Forces (ABRI), had
reiterated their earlier view to Commission C that the draft
decree on clean governance was sufficient to give the government
the necessary clout to investigate corruption.

"There is no need to name anyone," Fachry Ali, a researcher
and Golkar faction member, said. He was referring to the draft
decree which stipulates a proportional share of power among all
state institutions, including the People's Consultative Assembly
and the House of Representatives, to prevent a centralization of
power which allowed corruption, collusion and nepotism.

Commission C was assigned to deliberate the draft decree on
development reform guidelines to replace the State Policy
Guidelines adopted in the March 1998 General Session. The
guidelines were to have applied until 2003.

United Development Party's (PPP) Tosari Wijaya maintained
that a separate decree "is really needed to give the government
full authority to investigate the cases" of alleged corruption by
the former president, his family and cronies.

PPP had succeeded in bringing the subject of a draft decree on
an investigation into Soeharto's wealth before the commission,
although it lost in voting in the Assembly's Working Committee
which prepared all drafts for the session.

The draft decree on clean governance was issued in place of
PPP's proposed draft. The view that the Assembly should adopt a
decree on investigating Soeharto is shared by many.

This demand followed criticism of a government-assigned team
chaired by Attorney General Andi Muhammad Ghalib which has been
considered too slow in its inquiry into the former ruler.

The Ciganjur Declaration on Tuesday signed by four popular
figures -- Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati Soekarnoputri, Amien Rais
and Sultan Hamengkubuwono X -- also expressed this view.

On Tuesday, Didik J. Rachbini, an economist with the Societal
Group in the Assembly, said the current draft decree on politics
in a democratic economy could be used to "minimize businesses
links to the Soeharto family and cronies".

This draft was being deliberated by Commission D. (imn/anr)