'Soeharto must be held liable for wrongdoing'

'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)