Soeharto's assets abroad 'must be seized'

Soeharto's assets abroad 'must be seized'

JAKARTA (JP): A scholar and prominent critic of former
president Soeharto, George Junus Aditjondro, urged the government
on Monday to call on friendly foreign states to confiscate all
assets in their countries linked to Soeharto.

"Let's just start with a practical step by urging friendly
governments to freeze the assets, confiscate them, sell them and
return the money to the Indonesian people," George said on the
sidelines of a seminar on democracy and human rights at Hotel
Indonesia in Central Jakarta.

The government should do this if it is "sincere in its
intentions to overcome the crisis, provide essentials to the poor
and investigate Soeharto's wealth," he said.

George returned here to a hero's welcome on Sunday. He is here
for a week-long visit, his first to the country since he left for
Australia in 1995. In 1994 he was put on the police wanted list
for allegedly slandering Soeharto.

On Monday he said his present status with the police was
uncertain. On Saturday he had told The Jakarta Post: "What's
important now is that my passport has been returned to me." The
government confiscated his passport on April 13, 1997, but the
Indonesian embassy in Australia returned it to him shortly after
Soeharto resigned on May 21, he said.

George, who lectures on the sociology of corruption at
Australia's Newcastle University, is well known for his research
into both Soeharto and Habibie's wealth.

George said that among the family's overseas property were
five houses in London owned by three of Soeharto's six children
-- Sigit Hardjojudanto, Siti Hardijanti Rukmana, Siti Hediyati
Prabowo -- and his half-brother, businessman Probosutedjo, worth
an estimated 2 million (US$3.3 million), five houses in the
United States, several in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands and a
sprawling ranch in New Zealand owned by Soeharto's youngest son,
Hutomo Mandala Putra, or Tommy.

He also cited a forest concession in Surinam controlled by
Soeharto's half brother, Raden Notosoewito, a luxury cruiser
belonging to Tommy berthed in Darwin, Australia, and several gas
shipping companies owned by Bambang, Sigit and Tommy in
Singapore. Soeharto's eldest daughter, he said, owned the
operational rights on 300 kilometers of toll roads in Malaysia,
the Philippines, Myanmar and China.

"This list is only a small part of the assets of Soeharto's
family ... that are partly or entirely in the possession of the
family of the world's third richest head of state," George said.

He said precedents had already been set which could allow for
the family's overseas assets to be confiscated, citing
international action against the overseas wealth of former
Philippines leader Ferdinand Marcos and the former Zairean
president Mobutu Sese Seko.

George, 52, plans to launch his new book, The two peaks of
corruption, collusion and nepotism in the new order regime: from
Soeharto to Habibie on Thursday.

Regarding the possibility that he might be among people
holding information on Soeharto's wealth who will be questioned
by the Attorney General, George said the latter could just read
his book. If he had only given his information to the Attorney
General, he said, there would have been little chance of the
public exerting any control over the investigation.

"What is happening now is that Habibie and Ghalib are dancing
to the beat of Soeharto's drum," George said referring to
Attorney General Andi Muhammad Ghalib, head of a government team
assigned to investigate the source of Soeharto's wealth.

Meanwhile, Antara quoted Moslem scholar Nurcholish Madjid as
saying on Monday that the government should hire a foreign
private investigator to oversee an investigation of Soeharto's
wealth because that would lead to a more objective and impartial
outcome. (byg)