Search goes on for state document

Search goes on for state document

JAKARTA: The government is continuing the search for a long
missing document issued by first president Sukarno on Sept. 11,
1966, which reportedly transferred power to his successor,
Soeharto, a minister said on Thursday.

However, many pro-Soekarno figures refuse to accept that the
missing Sept. 11 decree did in fact transfer power to Soeharto,
who himself was forced to quit following massive rioting in May
1998.

"We will interview relatives of Pak Jusuf. We have promised to
hold interviews on Aug. 30 and Aug. 31," State Minister of
Administrative Reforms Taufiq Effendy told a hearing with the
House of Representatives' Commission II on domestic affairs.

Former chief security minister Jusuf was a key witness in
connection with the controversial document. He passed away
earlier this year in his hometown of Makassar, South Sulawesi.

Taufiq said the National Archives Agency had strived to the
utmost to find the missing decree, and had interviewed historians
and politicians from the Sukarno regime, but to no avail.

Earlier in the hearing, lawmaker Pastor Saut Hasibuan asked
the minister why the search for such an important state document
had failed to come up trumps. --Antara