Questioning Habibie unnecessary: Akbar

Questioning Habibie unnecessary: Akbar

JAKARTA (JP): The government dismissed on Thursday a demand
for the House of Representatives to quiz President B.J. Habibie
over a phone conversation he allegedly had with Attorney General
Andi M. Ghalib.

Minister/State Secretary Akbar Tandjung told reporters at
Merdeka Palace that the United Development Party (PPP)-sponsored
motion was out of order and also irrelevant because there was
nothing wrong with the substance of the conversation which was
tapped and leaked to the press recently.

"The House can seek the President's clarification on matters
of, let's say, violations of the State Policy Guidelines or the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) mandates. But in fact he did
not violate these," Akbar said.

Controversy has mounted on the conversation, believed to have
occurred not long after Ghalib questioned former president
Soeharto on Dec. 9 last year, as it gave the impression that
Habibie was reluctant to probe his predecessor.

Many have said that if the authenticity of the conversation is
established, the case could lead to Habibie's impeachment on
charges of breaching an MPR mandate to combat corruption,
collusion and nepotism. The stipulation explicitly targets
Soeharto, whose 32-year reign ended in May last year.

A group of 20 PPP legislators signed last week a motion to ask
Habibie to clarify the matter before the House.

Akbar denied allegations that the government was half-hearted
in probing Soeharto.

"The President wants to treat Pak Harto as a man, a former
head of state, the nation's leader with all his undisputed
merits, besides the fact that he's already old. The same
treatment applied to the likes of Pak Ali Sadikin, Pak Kemal
Idris and other respected figures," Akbar said.

Former Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin and former chief of the
Army Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) Kemal were questioned at
the Attorney General's Office in connection with an alleged
treason case last year. Both the retired senior military officers
have denied the allegations.

Akbar said Habibie was not hesitating to go on with the probe
of Soeharto and was prepared to give his account of all the
mandates of the MPR during its general session in November.
(prb/amd)