Reforms have come to a halt, NGOs say

Bambang Nurbianto and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Reforms have come to a complete halt under the leadership of President Megawati Soekarnoputri, as she prefers to collaborate with the remnants of the New Order regime rather than work with reform-minded leaders, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) said on Thursday.

Speaking at a year-end press conference in Jakarta, the NGOs said the reform agenda had run out of steam since Megawati took over the national leadership in July, while in the meantime the military's role had strengthened, law enforcement had weakened and the incidence of corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN) had increased.

The NGOs, which included Women's Solidarity, the Urban Poor Consortium, the Indonesian Consumers' Foundation and the Institute for the Study and Advocacy of the People (Elsam), highlighted the government's apparent reluctance to prosecute alleged corrupters who wielded serious political clout.

"The government must enforce the law against corrupters from both past regimes and the present through an impartial and transparent legal process," said Binny Buchori from the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (Infid) here on Thursday.

The NGOs referred to corruption allegations against former president Soeharto and Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) Akbar Tandjung.

Soeharto, who is still recovering from pneumonia in Pertamina Hospital in South Jakarta, has been charged with amassing US$571 million of state funds for personal gain, while Akbar is accused of embezzling Rp 54 billion (roughly $5.4 million) of State Logistics Agency (Bulog) money.

Megawati has considered granting an "abolition" to the ailing Soeharto, which would mean dropping corruption charges against him, while her party has appeared reluctant to pursue graft allegations against Akbar, who is also chairman of the Golkar Party, the second biggest faction in the DPR after Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).

Golkar played an important role in catapulting Megawati to the presidential post in July after members of the People's Consultative Assembly impeached former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid for incompetence.

"The plan to grant former president Soeharto an 'abolition' is a setback in law enforcement as such a move constitutes granting immunity," the NGOs said in a written statement.

Ifdal Khasim of Elsam said that Megawati lacked the courage to deal with various criminal cases because she based her decisions on political considerations.

"Every move Megawati makes is based on political considerations because she prefers political stability to a commitment to bring about justice," Ifdal said.

Jhonson Panjaitan of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) shared Ifdal's views, saying that the impeachment of Gus Dur had prompted Megawati to take a "compromise" approach in dealing with various criminal cases.

"Nearly three and a half years after the fall of Soeharto, we have not seen any improvements made by the governments that have succeeded his regime. The reform process that was expected to repair the situation has become stagnant," Jhonson said.

In a similar tone, the Democratic People's Party (PRD) on Thursday also criticized Megawati's leadership for giving too much space to the remnants of the autocratic New Order regime.

"It appears to be a resurrection of the autocratic New Order regime and militarism," said party chairman Haris Rusly.

Haris called on the government to appoint an ad-hoc prosecutor and justice specifically dedicated to investigating the Rp 54.6 billion scandal allegedly involving Akbar.

"We need to form an ad-hoc team because the Supreme Court and the legal system are no longer reliable," he said.

The NGOs also criticized Megawati's economic team for relying too heavily on International Monetary Fund (IMF) prescriptions, particularly in terms of pushing for an export-oriented economy while ignoring the rural sector.

"Instead of adopting measures designed to bring about an economic recovery, the government uses the conventional approach of collecting more loans from the IMF," Haris said.