Rift flares over origin of Soeharto pardon issue

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The heated debate over President Megawati Soekarnoputri's plan to drop former president Soeharto's corruption case got a bit more hot on Wednesday as two top officials were at odds over how she got the idea.

The newest edition of the controversy pitted State Secretary/Cabinet Secretary Bambang Kesowo and Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra against each other.

Yusril was the one who announced to the media after meeting with the President last week that Megawati was considering a pardon for Soeharto, mainly on health and humanitarian grounds.

He, along with other senior officials, met with the President after attending a meeting with Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

After being bombarded with allegations that Yusril had misquoted Megawati, Yusril swore over the weekend that the idea came directly from the President.

Her plan has raised speculation that it was part of a wider plan to completely exonerate Soeharto, the central figure in numerous corruption cases and human rights abuses during his 32- year rule.

Bambang is apparently among those doubting the Yusril version. He said he personally saw Megawati on Wednesday asking her precisely what it was that she meant.

Bambang said, "In last week's meeting there was a general discussion on the mechanisms of annulment, amnesty and clemency with regard to court cases, and then we touched on Soeharto's case, in which the President merely asked the ministers to carefully think of some solutions."

The meeting was attended by, among others, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno and Attorney General M.A. Rahman.

For his part, Yusril gave different versions of the same issue on Wednesday. Early in the day he stated that Megawati had asked several ministers for their opinions about the possibility of a pardon for Soeharto.

But later in the day, Yusril corrected his earlier statement saying that "the Cabinet proposed some alternatives to the President, which included granting Soeharto an amnesty, completely annulling the case or simply to leave the case alone and allow the court to do its job."

Yusril said that no decision had yet been taken, realizing that the idea to grant an annulment of the case may erode people's trust in the government's commitment in combating corruption as mandated by the People's Consultative Assembly in 1998, which explicitly mentioned the case against Soeharto.

The 80-year-old Soeharto has been in the hospital for nine days with what doctors and his advisors say is pneumonia. Doctors have placed him in the intensive care unit fearing further complications to his organs or another infection of his lungs.

Yusril said that technically and legally, to grant a pardon would mean that Soeharto must first be found guilty before the court, and that appears very unlikely because "Soeharto is unable to stand trial due to his medical condition."

But he was certain that the President would soon request advice from the House of Representatives on the issue of a pardon.

The House is scheduled to meet formally again on Jan. 7.

Also on Wednesday, a former political prisoner rejected the idea of a pardon for Soeharto who, he said, had destroyed the people's confidence in justice and had abused his power to generate ill-gotten wealth for his family and friends during his days in power.

"We appeal to Megawati to be cautious about what her fellow Cabinet members advise her to do, because they are all related to the past regime. They intend to wipe out the reform movement," said Erlangga, who was imprisoned for years without a trial, during Soeharto's rule.