Soeharto, sensible compromise or fear?

Soeharto, sensible compromise or fear?

When I lived in Aceh province for a number of years, fear was more than apparent. It was the very air that you breathed, and could on occasions make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.

That same fear no doubt exists in the corridors of power in Jakarta, as they all scurry about, trying to find an excuse to drop the legal charges against former president Soeharto. Ill health, old age, compassion, and even a commendable pardon are being discussed to shield past sins that admittedly remain unproved.

The subdued and somewhat passive Megawati is rumored to be taking the line that the nation "must" treat its leaders with dignity, and that is indeed a statement that gives absolute license to all of the elite that crime certainly pays. That would be a huge mistake.

This whole problem of Soeharto revolves around two issues: fear of retribution and fear of exposure to the masses. Both are understandably unwelcome. The web of corruption is so large that the spider himself has become old and sick, his knowledge of others still his power until his dying day. With so much at stake, the guilty want this whole affair well and truly buried, and that may well be wise.

Most people would accept that real justice is not possible, but compromise would solve a number of things.

DAVID WALLIS

Medan, North Sumatra