Reputed lawyer needed
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