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)