Soeharto's wealth: The key to Habibie's future

By Tjipta Lesmana

JAKARTA (JP): The success of the Philippines in recovering part of the wealth siphoned off by their ousted former president Ferdinand Marcos should serve as a lesson for Indonesians contemplating the recovery of some of the wealth allegedly stolen by former president Soeharto.

As soon as Corazon Aquino, the widow of the late senator Benigno Aquino, succeeded Marcos as president of the Philippines in February 1986, two pressing problems rose to the top of her administration's agenda, namely to amend the constitution and to trace the assets that Marcos amassed during his 20 year rule.

Regarding the second problem, Aquino set up an independent team made up of people renowned for their high integrity. The team was given broad authority to carry out its task -- tracing the assets of the Marcos family and returning them to the state.

Armed with preliminary data collected at home, the team began investigations in the United States and Switzerland. After about 18 months, the team's perseverance paid of and it successfully identified a number of fixed assets owned by the Marcos family in New York and their cash savings in a number of Swiss banks. These findings were a big blow to Imelda Marcos, who had previously "sworn" that her family did not have one cent abroad. She even claimed that she had to beg Marcos' former friends to help her finance the care of her husband's corpse in Hawaii.

Soeharto was often likened to Marcos -- both men were authoritarian, allowed no room for opposition, had a desire to rule for ever, were very corrupt and nepotistic and provided a wide range of business opportunities for their families and friends. Both fell from power in almost the same way -- toppled by people's power movements spearheaded by university students. The difference is that Marcos was "picked up" and then detained by the United States while Soeharto was not.

When Marcos fell from power, Filipinos believed that their former president had robbed them of tens of millions of U.S. dollars. Soeharto is in the same boat. The public, gleaning information from foreign sources, believes that Soeharto and his family have amassed huge fortunes during his time in office. Research conducted by various parties abroad, including the reputable Fortune magazine, corroborate this commonly held opinion.

Ruling elites often consider unfavorable public opinion as a dangerous "foe" capable of destroying their power. Although it is not always true, public opinion often comes to be regarded as the truth after it has been held for a long time.

Understandably, when Soeharto said in a recent televised statement that he did not have even one cent in savings abroad, opposition leader Amien Rais simply dismissed his claim as a humorless joke. Soeharto's statement was akin to a small stone bouncing of a very strong wall, but it is true that in the absence of authentic proof, the community cannot just accuse Soeharto of being a "big liar".

However, President Habibie has no choice but to determine the veracity of Soeharto's statement.

In his initial address after being installed as President, Habibie said that his administration was determined to eradicate all form of corruption, collusion and nepotism (better known by their Indonesian acronym of KKN). No one knew how serious Habibie was when he made that a statement.

Furthermore, rumors have been circulating that Soeharto is one of the world's wealthiest people, a label that he has categorically denied.

It is crucial for Habibie's administration to check the veracity of Soeharto's statement because otherwise the Indonesian people will brand Habibie a fraud. Even now he is courting that moniker as a result of some of his less well judged policy measures.

The line up of his Development and Reform Cabinet disappointed many people because certain ministers were allegedly involved in corrupt practices during the Soeharto era. One minister was denounced by his own people when he was their governor. Others are known to be very close to Soeharto.

His recent award of Mahaputera medals to certain people very close to him has also lowered Habibie's integrity in the eyes of the public. Furthermore, the pretext that his younger brother, J.E. Habibie, deserved a medal for twice being appointed director general of sea communications and serving as an ambassador was frankly ridiculous.

His sudden decision to replace attorney general Sudjono attracted suspicion of his willingness to eradicate corruption because the public believed Sudjono was committed to tracing Soeharto's assets. Moreover, when the new Attorney General, Andi Mohamad Ghalib, said: "Why shouldn't we trust Soeharto?" people became even more skeptical about the government's efforts to trace the assets of the former president and his family.

Statements made by government officials to the effect that no action can be taken in the absence of evidence reflects their stupidity. An investigation is conducted to uncover evidence.

President Habibie should make use of strong public support for an investigation of Soeharto's assets to help him reestablish his image and integrity in the eyes of the country. The most practical step he could take to this end would be to set up an independent team, just like the one established by Aquino in the early days of her administration. The government should not take this Herculean task upon itself because the public have lost confidence in the national legal system, a state of affairs most certainly not helped by Ghalib's comments on Soeharto after the latter's recent appearance on television.

An independent team should be made up of figures whose integrity has never been questioned. No government officials should be allowed to sit on the team so that its objectivity and impartiality can be guaranteed. Once established, the team should do the following jobs.

. The team should visit the headquarters of Fortune magazine in the United States and find out where it obtained information about the Soeharto family's assets. The magazine once assigned journalist Michael Vatikiotis to Jakarta for quite a long time. In 1993, he wrote a book about Indonesia in which he claimed that a number of Soeharto-led foundations had accumulated funds of between US$2 billion and $3 billion.

The team could find out whether it was true that between $1 and $2 was deducted from each barrel of crude oil exported from Indonesia. A noted economist, Hartoyo Wignyowiyoto, once disclosed that this was the case.

The team could go to Austria to check reports that some Indonesians deposited hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars in a number of banks there. The banks may be able to reveal the names of the depositors.

The team could also visit Germany, the United States, Switzerland and a number of other countries. If it is given legitimacy by the Indonesian government, the team will be able to obtain the full support of foreign governments in its investigation. There is an international agreement that money earned illegally must be returned to the legal and legitimate governments that are entitled to it, no matter where it is deposited. Indonesia's donors will surely assist the team because they would not want to see part of their financial assistance to the country embezzled by corrupt officials.

At home, the team could also collect information about businesses related to Soeharto. For example, the business tycoon Bob Hasan has openly admitted that 80 percent of the shares in his Nusamba business group are held by Soeharto-led foundations.

In this respect, there is an irregularity because a foundation is, by law, not allowed to engage in commercial ventures.

Rumors also persist that some of the businesses run by tycoons Liem Sioe Liong and Prayogo Pangestu actually belong to the Soeharto family. Only recently it was revealed that 30 percent to 40 percent of the shares in Bank BCA were owned by the Soeharto family. If Liem and Pangestu were questioned for 10 hours, the team might be able to elicit some surprising information from them.

In short, unlike what the new Attorney General has hinted, the country would benefit from an earnest effort to unearth the Soeharto family's assets, even though the results could be shocking, both to Indonesians and to the rest of the world. The question is whether or not Habibie has the guts to take the necessary action.

The writer is a freelance journalist and lecturer at the University of Indonesia School of Social and Political Sciences.