Reputed lawyer needed

On top of the terrible hardship which is afflicting the vast majority of this country's 210 million inhabitants -- the "fat cats" in their Mercedes, BMWs and Volvos are not suffering too greatly, nor, it would seem, are they making many sacrifices to help their less fortunate brethren -- as a result of an ongoing monetary crisis and economic recession, two new specters have arisen.

First, I refer to the attorney general's ineffectual efforts to bring the Soeharto family to justice. As he was one of Soeharto's happy band of cronies, this is hardly surprising -- "Do not bite the hand that feeds or fed you" seems to be his policy. Second, the recent horrific outbreak of violence in Sambas underlines the frightening fact that the security forces are either unwilling or unable to restore law and order.

The other evening I heard the BBC World Service's reporter saying, from Sambas, "As I speak, another house has just gone up in flames. Some police officers I can see, who were enjoying a meal, rose, fired a few shots in the air, and returned to their meal." If that is riot control, then I fear that this way lies anarchy, which leads to the interesting fact that the present attorney general is a military man and not a lawyer.

If Mr. Habibie had bothered to consult his dictionary, he would have found that the word "General" in the title "Attorney General" has nothing whatever to do with military rank. He would have found this definition in Webster's Dictionary: "The Chief law officer and representative in legal matters of a national or state government, and the legal advisor to the Chief Executive." This definition hardly fits an active, serving soldier with no knowledge of the law, so the sooner Lt. Gen. Ghalib is returned to military duty, the better. Perhaps his military experience /know-how might contribute something -- no matter how little -- to reviving the sagging morale of the Armed Forces and getting it to exercise some control over the mayhem in Sambas, Manado, Aceh and other trouble spots.

In his place, the man who is needed is a lawyer of high repute and integrity who would be able to pursue the investigation into the Soeharto family's (allegedly) ill-gotten billions and to bring them before an impartial court.

RB SAWREY-COOKSON

Jakarta