Soeharto to rule on officials' private wealth

Soeharto to rule on officials' private wealth

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto will soon issue a decree as
the legal foundation requiring ministers and other high-ranking
officials to declare their wealth, a minister said yesterday.

Coordinating Minister of Development Supervision and State
Administrative Reforms Hartarto Sastrosoenarto said the decree
would rule that ministers and provincial governors were obliged
to report their wealth directly to the President.

Upper-echelon ministry officials -- including secretaries-
general and directors general -- will be required to report to
Hartarto. Provincial officials must report their assets to the
governors.

"We are still working on (the decree), and will announce the
results soon," Hartarto said after meeting with Vice President
B.J. Habibie at Merdeka Selatan Palace.

At the new cabinet's first meeting last week, the President
ordered his 36-strong cabinet to disclose their wealth along with
their spouses' in a bid to bolster public confidence in the
government.

However, the reports would not be made public, Soeharto said.

Also yesterday, Hartarto said President Soeharto assigned him
to supervise the development process. In his previous two terms,
Soeharto gave the assignment to vice presidents Sudharmono and
Try Sutrisno.

Unlike the two previous vice presidents -- who were specially
assigned to supervise development and other ceremonial events,
Vice President B.J. Habibie has been given the more challenging
tasks of assisting the President in international fora and to
coordinate industrial sectors.

The Vice President visited Japan only one week after his
installment this month.

He is also scheduled to visit Malaysia and Italy next week
before attending the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in London early
next month.

"Today, Pak Habibie handed over his task to supervise
development to me," Hartarto said.

Merdeka Selatan Palace has a special postal box, Tromol Pos
5000, to receive complaints from the public, especially on power
abuses, corruption and poor public services. Hartarto said the
box has been moved to his office at the Ministry of Manpower on
Jl. Gatot Subroto, South Jakarta.

"As the postal box plays a strategic role to strengthen
supervision functions... I do appreciate information from
people," Hartarto noted.

The President also assigned Hartarto to be in charge of the
affairs of more than four million civil servants, a task
previously handled by a state minister.

Hartarto also said that his office was finalizing the specific
missions of each ministry in order to avoid any overlapping of
authority, such as the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and
Ministry of Education and Culture.

"We are also working on streamlining our organizations to
enable us to work efficiently," said Hartarto, but quickly added
that there was no plan to reduce the size of the civil service.
(prb)