The candidate and the trump card

A recent issue of Tempo conjectured that Tommy Soeharto has a "trump card", that is, some move he can make that would supercede any move the government might make as it tries to subject him to the court's authority. Tempo speculates that this trump card may be a recording of the now infamous Hotel Borobudur meeting between Tommy and President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid. I would like to suggest a second trump card that Tommy may have: Mr. Muladi as chief justice. Muladi served as Soeharto's last justice minister. Even after Soeharto's downfall, Mr. Muladi did nothing in furtherance of action against Soeharto, or those who kidnapped the student protesters in 1998, or those who perpetrated the May 1998 rapes and violence, or those police who killed the student demonstrators, or against corruption.

He took no action on the case of Mr. Andi Ghalib and his Rp 9 billion mystery deposit. He reneged on his ministry's promise that a former corrupt immigration official in Medan would be disciplined if proof were given of his corruption. He didn't pay his taxes. What more does a candidate have to not do before legislators move beyond the fit-and-proper charade and declare that this candidate simply does not have the ethical sensitivity and moral courage required to step into what is arguably the second most important position in the government?

The whole country surely remembers Mr. Muladi's pompous threat: for him it's either top billing or nothing; he would resign from the Supreme Court rather than serve in a lesser position. Is this the demeanor of a man with a love of public service and dedication to the pursuit of justice? Mr. Muladi has pursued this pending honor shamelessly -- through new interviews, TV appearances, and round table discussions.

If Muladi's public actions are so lacking in dignity, we can only guess what his backroom activities with legislators might have been like. His raw ambition seems to blind him to the excesses of his self-promotion. The last thing Indonesia needs as it struggles toward reform is a chief justice propelled so single-mindedly by self-interest.

Muladi, a former law professor, is no doubt knowledgeable about the law. He is a known public figure. He has the support of Akbar Tanjung, Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) and the functional group (Golkar). These are not enough to qualify him for the position of chief justice.

If the DPR relies on these grounds as the basis for its nomination, it will have abdicated one of its gravest duties: to recommend worthy, qualified (chief justice) candidates to the President. Indonesia deserves more from its DPR, and much more in its next chief justice. The importance of the role of chief justice at this time in Indonesia's history cannot be underestimated. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI- Perjuangan), at least, understands that the position calls for the quality of "nobility"; this is not a word usually used to describe Muladi.

In months to come Tommy Soeharto, his father and siblings, and a parade of other suspects will find themselves before one court or another -- or so we hope. From what we have already seen, they are likely to resist justice aggressively, probably to the Supreme Court level. How ethical and aggressive would a Muladi- led Supreme Court be in upholding legal principles? How independent would Muladi be when dealing with Soeharto and his cronies and lackeys (of which he was one), if as a post-Soeharto justice minister he was not? Will he fear exposure of his own lapses from probity by those whose cases he judges, and be tempted to soft-pedal his judicial responses? The next time Tommy or another Soeharto or the cronies come within the purview of the Supreme Court, will Muladi be their trump card?

DONNA K. WOODWARD

Medan, North Sumatra