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