'Soeharto must be held liable for wrongdoing'

JAKARTA (JP): Former president Soeharto must be held accountable for any mismanagement of financial and economic policies during his tenure, a constitutional law expert has said.

Yusril Ihza Mahendra of the University of Indonesia's School of Law said here on Saturday that Soeharto's resignation on May 21 did not automatically absolve him of any misconduct he might have committed during his 32-year rule.

"His resignation announcement only ended his responsibility as head of state."

"It did not rule out the possibility of (the current authorities) seeking his account for all acts committed during his term of office," he told a seminar on reform of the presidency, organized by alumni of the private Universitas Nasional.

Yusril, who was Soeharto's speechwriter in the last five years of his administration, dismissed as a futile exercise some people's campaign to have Soeharto held to account during the planned special session of the People's Consultative Assembly scheduled for November.

"That would be meaningless and would not satisfy people's demand for a thorough investigation into Soeharto's past conduct," he said.

Soeharto, who was reelected unanimously for a seventh consecutive term in March, resigned in May amid strong public pressure for political reform. Many people are now calling for a criminal investigation into his leadership.

Yusril called on the Attorney General's Office and the National Police to heed people's call for a probe into Soeharto's past and launch an investigation.

He also called on President B.J. Habibie to approve such an investigation. "Because the former president is still alive, it will rest on President Habibie to decide whether Soeharto should be prosecuted or not," he said.

"If Habibie fails to meet the people's demand, the Assembly can then ask for his (Habibie's) accountability at the end of his term," he said.

The dean of Universitas Nasional's School of Law, A. Dahlan Ranuwihardjo, concurred.

"Soeharto must be responsible for all the losses that the people and the state have suffered

"He must also be held responsible for any criminal offenses (he may have committed) in the past," said Dahlan.

He agreed that seeking Soeharto's account through the Assembly would be futile as it would be easy for him to reject the move now that he was no longer president.

Amendment

Both speakers also agreed that the 1945 Constitution needed to be amended.

"If the 1945 Constitution is not amended or changed, we cannot say there has truly been presidential reform," Yusril said.

He cited articles in the 1945 Constitution that should be amended, including those on the criteria for a president and the presidential election system.

"The criteria that a president must be an indigenous Indonesian should be revoked as we are not so sure whether a presidential candidate is really an indigenous Indonesian or not," he said.

Yusril also suggested that the president should be directly elected by the people, rather than by the Assembly.

Dahlan said the MPR's internal rules on presidential elections should be amended in line with any planned change in the election system.

Political observers Afan Gaffar of the Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University and Maswadi Rauf of the University of Indonesia both suggested that the constitutional amendment include a limit on the presidential term of office. (imn)