Soeharto legal process must continue: Gus Dur

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Critics decried on Friday possible intervention by the President to revoke alleged graft charges against former president Soeharto, saying that such an act would be a deathblow to the already ragged justice system.

The outcry was not impelled so much by a sense of vengeance or hunger to persecute the now-ailing former strongman, but more by a desire that, once and for all, the Indonesian people should know the truth about their second president.

No less than former president Abdurrahman Wahid led the outcry against President Megawati Soekarnoputri's possible initiative.

"The most important thing is that the nation should know clearly whether he is guilty or not," Abdurrahman told reporters after opening the Summit of World Muslim Leaders here on Friday.

Abdurrahman repeated his past stance that he would support an eventual presidential pardon, should legal proceedings continue and the courts find Soeharto guilty.

News of the possibility of the President's intervention in the legal process and revocation of charges against Soeharto broke out on Thursday when Megawati consulted top Cabinet ministers on the issue.

Under the Constitution the president has the prerogative to issue an "abolition" in consultation with the House of Representatives.

Recounting her personal experience of seeing her father, the first president, Sukarno, ostracized by the state during the closing years of his life, Megawati has repeatedly stressed that the nation must treat its leaders with dignity.

She has not made any public reference to Soeharto, leaving many to guess if compassion is truly her sole motive or if some hidden political reason is behind it all.

Abdurrahman, when president, had also alluded to a possible pardon as a form of stimulus for Soeharto to return the ill- gotten gains he allegedly acquired during his 32 years in power.

But even if Megawati does not decide to revoke the charges against Soeharto, the fact of the matter is that legal proceedings, on charges that he abused power to acquire wealth through his foundations, have stalled.

The Supreme Court has said that the trial cannot continue due to Soeharto's failing health.

Both Abdurrahman and Hendardi, chairman of the Human Rights and Legal Aid Foundation, separately were extremely pessimistic on Friday about Indonesia's legal system if Megawati insisted on pursuing her initiative, regardless of its constitutional validity.

Hendardi said that such a decision was tantamount to Megawati "justifying or accepting the evil practices of the New Order regime."

Abdurrahman, while acknowledging that Soeharto could eventually be pardoned due to the service he gave to the nation, insisted that the legal process should not be halted summarily.

Similarly, legal expert Achmad Ali from Hasanuddin University also pointed out that Megawati could be in violation of a decree from the People's Consultative Assembly if she revoked the charges.

"Even if Soeharto is sick, we must remember that there is a decree requiring the president to eradicate corruption, collusion, and nepotism," Ali told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Ali feared there would be a sudden mass deterioration of health of alleged big-name corruptors in a bid to be treated similarly.

But legislators, who may be the last line of defense if Megawati remains headstrong in going ahead with the abolition, seemed quite receptive to the whole idea.

House Speaker Akbar Tandjung said on Friday that humanitarian grounds constituted a sufficient argument to revoke the charges.

House deputy speaker A.M. Fatwa concurred, also saying, "we must respect" Megawati's intention to accord Soeharto this treatment in recognition of "his service to the country."

Fatwa suggested that Megawati should quickly send a letter so that the matter could be discussed at a House leadership meeting scheduled for Jan. 3. The House is currently in recess till Jan.7.

Zein Badjeber of the United Development Party also said the House would likely support the move due to Soeharto's deteriorating health and old age, but stressed, "the government should continue the legal investigation of Soeharto's family and cronies."

"It all depends on the President, whether or not she has the willingness to do it," he said.