Soeharto versus 'Time'

Soeharto's blustering accusations of "slander" against Time magazine are misinformed. What he means is libel. Slander is defamation by word of mouth -- and in view of his outrage at this alleged libel, perhaps the old legal adage, "the greater the truth, the greater the libel" applies. To paraphrase Shakespeare (Macbeth), methinks Soeharto doth protest too much.

The extraordinary dragging of their feet on the part of the President and his so-called Attorney General in the matter of investigating "Soeharto Inc." (as Time has it) makes one wonder if maybe the ex-dictator has diverted a few of his millions of dollars into numbered Swiss accounts for his old cronies as the price for their inaction.

JAMES RICHARDS

Jakarta