Soeharto's wealth

An important dimension has emerged in the reform tide and is now taking an increasingly clearer shape. It concerns the wealth of our high-ranking government officials. At the present stage, the basic concern is to clear up the question of former president Soeharto's alleged wealth but the possibility cannot be ruled out that Soeharto's subordinates will be made to share the spotlight in the future.

In 1996, the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy, an offshore organization, ranked Indonesia as the third-most corrupt country in Asia. The following year, the same organization ranked Indonesia worst in terms of corruption.

Efforts to encourage the promotion of this kind of accountability through legal means must be continued. In the future, this practice must become a tradition so that anyone who comes into power will exercise it responsibly. Nothing in the Constitution justifies a person enriching himself or herself and his or her relatives. The people have a right to protest such acts and demand an account.

The establishment of a clean and authoritative government has become an aspiration of all of us. The government itself at one time proclaimed the same ideal, although, unfortunately, the effort was limited to uttering slogans. The people are still waiting for our statesmen, politicians and bureaucrats to turn this ambition into reality.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta