Revolution fund does exist: Suhardiman
Revolution fund does exist: Suhardiman
JAKARTA (JP): Deputy chairman of the Supreme Advisory Council
Suhardiman reiterated his belief yesterday that the multi-billion
dollar revolution fund does exist.
"What we need to do now is to find out its whereabouts and how
much is remaining," said the aging politician who first raised
the issue in the 1980s.
Suhardiman said it is possible that the fund was spent by
either the Old Order government under president Sukarno, who
raised the disputed fund, or by the current New Order government.
"The government must publicly announce the results of the
(ongoing) investigation by the Attorney General's Office," he
said.
The fund was supposedly amassed by President Sukarno through
special taxes on various enterprises and was intended to finance
some of the government's war efforts in the 1960s, including the
campaign to wrestle Irian Jaya from Dutch hands and the
"confrontation" against Malaysia.
The debate over the existence of the fund was resumed at the
end of last month by Suhardiman, who is also chief of Soksi, a
military-sponsored labor organization which helped found the
Golkar party to counter the growing influence of the communists
in 1964.
In the 1980s, the government established an investigation team
called Tim Operasi Teladan to track the existence of the fund.
In 1987, the government, through Minister/State Secretary
Sudharmono, publicly conceded that "it is hard to track the funds
down but the government will keep trying."
Sudharmono, who is also former vice president, concluded last
week the fund did not exist.
He recalled that President Soeharto, in the early years of his
presidency, set up a special team to try to locate all state
funds abroad, including the revolution fund. The search was
fruitless, he said.
The controversy over the fund has resurfaced along with the
imminent release of Soebandrio, a former deputy prime minister
who has been imprisoned since 1966 for his role in the 1965 coup
attempt blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party.
Soebandrio, who has been granted clemency and will be released
from life imprisonment after Aug. 15, is believed to be the only
person who knows the whereabouts of the fund -- if it exists at
all.
Suhardiman was confident that the government's latest attempt
to explore the revolution fund would be successful.
"The government is trying a new approach in tracking the
revolution fund," he said.
He said that instead of solely questioning Soebandrio, the
second investigation also focuses on verification with other
people who may have information.
"The first investigation in 1985 only questioned Soebandrio,"
he said.
He also said that current investigation is being conducted by
solely by the Attorney General's Office, which helps ease the
investigation procedures and coordination with other related
institutions. The first investigation included many institutions.
Suhardiman claims that Soebandrio has always tried to exchange
his freedom, through the President's grant of clemency, with his
promise of full cooperation with the government in recovering the
fund.
Suhardiman added, however, that it was not the reason why the
President eventually granted Soebandrio clemency.
"He was freed for humanitarian reasons," he said.
Government officials earlier denied that Soebandrio's release
was a result of a deal.
Suhardiman also claims to have supporting documents mentioning
the fund's whereabouts.
"I have two copies of Soebandrio's proposals to the
government, mentioning the amount and the places the fund is
kept," he said.
He said Soebandrio claimed that US$450 million of the fund is
kept in several Swiss banks, about 250 million pound sterling
kept in gold bars in an English banks, and about 25.5 million
Dutch guilder kept in a bank in Amsterdam.
He said the banks in Switzerland have signaled that only
Soebandrio was able to withdraw the money. (imn)