Ruling on Soeharto irks Gus Dur

Ruling on Soeharto irks Gus Dur

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid has expressed
dissatisfaction with the court ruling to drop corruption charges
against former president Soeharto, and hinted that he would seek
to replace the judges presiding over the case.

Implying that the judges were not upright, Abdurrahman said
that the government would look for replacements who were "clean,
firm and cannot be bought".

"I've called Attorney General Marzuki Darusman and he said
that the verdict is going to be appealed to a higher court. With
regard to that, I've also called the acting chief justice to look
for judges who are clean, strict and can't be bought," Antara
quoted Abdurrahman as saying on board the presidential flight
from Venezuela to Brazil on Thursday evening.

Lalu Mariyun, the chief judge in the Soeharto trial, rejected
any suggestion that the decision had been bought.

"I reject President Abdurrahman Wahid's statement which gave
the impression the judge in the trial of former president
Soeharto could be bought," Lalu said in the West Nusa Tenggara
capital of Mataram on Friday.

"It would have been too risky and improper if I did that," he
added.

Lalu is head of Mataram District Court.

Judges decided on Thursday to dismiss the Soeharto case after
an independent team of doctors declared that the former president
was medically unfit to stand trial.

The decision was immediately met with widespread public
criticism and triggered violent student protests on Jakarta
streets on Thursday.

However Abdurrahman, who is on a 10-day trip to four South
American countries and Canada, called on the public and students
to remain calm, saying the government would do its best to appeal
the verdict to a higher court.

The President said the verdict was "biased".

"We have actually been too lenient because even a thief
stealing a chicken would have to be sent to jail while Pak Harto
is not in jail but in his own home," Abdurrahman remarked.

The President then reiterated his statement earlier this week
that security personnel had no right to stop demonstrators
marching on Soeharto's house on Jl. Cendana, Central Jakarta.

However, he stressed that students should not vandalize
Soeharto's residence.

Many were shocked by Abdurrahman's statement earlier this week
when he said that security personnel should allow students
protesting against the former president to stone his house.

"The most they (protesters) can do is throw stones at the
windows. Leave them be, I mean, Soeharto was very corrupt, wasn't
he?" Abdurrahman said while speaking to members of the Indonesian
community in Caracas, Venezuela, on Tuesday.

Students, calling for the former strongman to be jailed for
corruption, often clash with police guarding his house.

The students usually throw stones and Molotov cocktails while
the security personnel respond with tear gas and baton charges.

The protesters also often targeted military personnel,
stopping military vehicles which happened to pass the street at
the time.

On Friday Indonesian Military (TNI) spokesman Rear Marshal
Graito Usodo expressed deep concern over anarchic and personal
attacks exerted against the security apparatus in the city.

Graito said several security personnel were injured and a
military car belonging to Lt. Gen. Luhut Binsar Panjaitan,
minister of trade and industry, was burned down by a group of
demonstrators.

Graito warned that of the anarchic acts continue, TNI would
seek permission "to try and protect its personnel and assests".

Separately Luhut confirmed that it was his car that was burned
by the mob Thursday evening.

Luhut was celebrating his 53rd birthday at his official
residence on Jl. Widya Chandra in South Jakarta that night. After
the party, he told his chauffeur named Dwi to drive home a
relative, a mother with a five-year-old child, using his official
military car.

When they passed the Salemba area the car, which had a
military license plate, was stopped by demonstrators. They forced
the passengers to get out of the car, then set it on fire.

"Yes, it was a tragedy, but everything is okay now. There is
nothing to be exaggerated," Luhut said. (rms/byg)