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)