Settlement of Soeharto's case

Settlement of Soeharto's case

From Suara Karya

Polemics about the case of former president Soeharto have led
the national elite to come up with an idea to find a political
settlement of the case. These political elite may have forgotten
the consequence of the political settlement of the case involving
Sukarno, Indonesia's first president and the person who
proclaimed Indonesia's independence. We now know that the New
Order's political settlement of Sukarno's case, despite its
relevance to Sukarno's political mistakes, was not a proportional
settlement.

The present government would like to seek a similar political
settlement regarding the alleged corruption, collusion and
nepotism (KKN) practices by former president Soeharto. The fact
that Soeharto has been indicted for these alleged KKN practices,
with an emphasis on corruption, indicates that his case is a
legal matter. If this case is interpreted politically, everything
will be blurred and superficial because a political matter is
usually both broad in scope and general in nature. Turning this
case into a political matter may also be great torture to
Soeharto and his family. However, if the government is consistent
with law enforcement, not only will Soeharto and his family have
to account for their misdeeds, but also his cronies.

Obviously, and in my opinion, any attempt to turn Soeharto's
case into a political matter is absolutely wrong. However, this
may be deliberately attempted in order to prevent Soeharto's
cronies from being implicated.

Another thing to consider is that creating such a condition
is no certainty about settling this case legally which is
tantamount to politically punishing Soeharto. Perhaps this is the
condition that the law enforcers expect to prevail until Soeharto
can no longer be brought to court because of ill health. It must
be borne in mind though that a mistaken settlement of Soeharto's
case is tantamount to trampling his basic rights as a citizen who
must be treated equally to other citizens before the law.

AL ILYAS AKBAR

Jakarta