Soedjono's dismissal puzzles legal profession

Soedjono's dismissal puzzles legal profession

JAKARTA (JP): Prominent legal practitioners and observers
expressed a degree of suspicion yesterday over the sudden
dismissal of the attorney general and questioned the motive for
making a military officer the country's top prosecutor.

Their views ranged from calls for an open explanation into the
matter to suggestions that the move may have been linked to the
Attorney General's Office investigation into corruption under
former president Soeharto.

Bambang Widjojanto, chairman of the highly-respected
Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, speculated that it could be
Soedjono C. Atmonegoro's "rather independent" nature which led to
his dismissal.

"There must be an open explanation from the President about
his decision, although we know he had the right to do it ... But
we wonder why, was it because Soedjono's show of independence
that he was replaced or was it because he was incapable of
performing his duties," Bambang told The Jakarta Post.

President B.J. Habibie replaced Attorney General Soedjono C.
Atmonegoro with the head of the Armed Forces prosecutor's office,
Maj. Gen. Muhammad Ghalib, on Monday.

The dismissal occurred during the preliminary stages of the
Attorney General's Office investigation into corruption during
Soeharto's 32 years in office.

Minister/State Secretary Akbar Tandjung was, after announcing
the decision, quick to dispel suggestions that it was related to
the corruption probe.

However the fact that Soedjono was replaced just three weeks
after Habibie retained him in his new cabinet only served to fuel
rumors.

Soedjono was initially sworn in by then president Soeharto on
March 19.

Soedjono appeared sanguine yesterday when asked by reporters
about the move. He said he only learned of the decision when he
was summoned by Habibie yesterday afternoon.

Soedjono said Habibie asked him to help Ghalib, who is due to
be sworn in today, by giving him advice.

When asked whether the corruption probe would stop now that he
is no longer attorney general, Soedjono replied: "The programs of
the Attorney General's Office does not easily change from day to
day".

Military

Bambang questioned the appointment of Ghalib, which he said
broke a well-nurtured tradition of the office being led by career
civilian attorneys.

"Whoever replaced Soedjono should have been a career civilian
attorney," Bambang said while rhetorically asking if perhaps it
was because there were no capable people left in the Attorney
General's Office that a military man had to be appointed.

"I'm worried that it is aimed at 'taming' the office," he
remarked.

However, Bambang said he did not know Ghalib well enough to
comment on his likely performance.

"It would be unfair for me to comment, but I hope Ghalib can
show his credibility in his new post.

"His institution, the Armed Forces, is at stake. He is a
military man who has been put in one of the most strategic posts
under a seemingly increasingly civilian government," he said.

Lawyer Frank Taira Supit told The Post yesterday that the
replacement indicates a sharp behind-the-scenes change of
circumstances.

"It means there have been some developments which necessitate
a drastic response," Frank, who is also a member of the
independent Movement of Concerned Citizens on State Assets
(Gempita), said after meeting Soedjono at his office.

"I think Soedjono was either acting too fast or too slow (in
the corruption probe)," he remarked.

Frank said it is now really a test for Ghalib to prove whether
he is at the Attorney General's Office to serve the nation or to
simply follow instructions from his superiors in the Armed
Forces.

"It is a question he has to ask of himself," Frank said.

Political observer Arbi Sanit of the University of Indonesia
maintained that the move to replace Soedjono with Ghalib was only
a follow-up move from the military to protect Soeharto and his
family.

In light of calls for total reform, the latest move is a major
setback, he told the Post.

"In the present era of reform, it should have been the
military posts which are returned to civilian officials, not the
other way around," he said.

Albert Hasibuan, a lawyer and member of the National Human
Rights Commission, regards the change as an abnormal event.

"One possible reason could be Soedjono's probe into
corruption," he surmised. "What's important now is that what
Soedjono has done should be continued by Ghalib." (byg/aan)