The Riady connection

The Riady connection

The American media's disclosure that Indonesian billionaire
James Riady of the Lippo Group has been making financial
contributions to the Democratic Party's campaign coffers is not
new. The Wall Street Journal reported it as far back as March.
But the contribution has suddenly become a hot presidential
campaign issue thanks the Republican camp's strategy of attacking
the personality of President Bill Clinton in its attempt to
unseat him in next month's election.

In itself the contributions, totaling hundreds of thousands of
dollars, are insignificant since the amount is small compared to
the millions spent during the election campaign. But linked to
other issues, it has the potential to become a major scandal,
which, in the words of House of Representatives Speaker Newt
Gingrich, "makes Watergate look tiny."

The Republicans are questioning Riady's link to, and possible
influence over, the Clinton administration. They have linked the
contribution to the appointment in the Democratic Party of a
former top Lippo Group employee, John Huang. Then there was the
U.S. Export-Import Bank's letters of credit for $900,000 to Lippo
Bank; and at one time the U.S. bank even agreed to finance a huge
power plant project in China for the Indonesian conglomerate, as
disclosed by Newsweek.

Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole is now asking
whether the Riady contributions affected Clinton's foreign
policy, particularly in reference to East Timor. Gingrich
meanwhile has threatened congressional and criminal
investigations into these contributions.

The Democratic Party, for its part, has denied any suggestion
of impropriety. White House spokesman Mike McCurry has pointed
out that President Clinton has known James Riady since his time
as Arkansas governor, and that the contributions were all legal.
On the accusations about accepting foreign donations, President
Clinton only responded that "it's election time."

We will probably hear more revelations and accusations about
the Riady connection in the run up to the Nov. 5 election. In the
third presidential campaign debate in San Diego, scheduled for
today, Senator Dole is bound to raise the issue.

However, to suggest that Riady has exerted influence on the
U.S. administration's foreign policy is probably stretching the
argument a little too far. Riady is a private businessman and
what he does with his money, whether it is proper or not, is
likely to be motivated by a desire to promote his own business
empire, rather than promoting Indonesia's interests. Lippo Group
is not the only Indonesian conglomerate that has expanded its
horizons and gone global.

Whatever the outcome of the debate on the issue, and whoever
wins the November election, we hope existing bilateral relations
between Indonesia and the United States will not deteriorate
because of it.

No doubt some of the charges are mere electioneering, and
hopefully they will cease once the election is over. Whether or
not there should be a congressional investigation is another
matter.

So far, no one has suggested that the contribution is illegal;
it is accepted Riady simply exploited loopholes that exist in
U.S. electoral law. But before anyone answers the question
whether this is proper or not, the same question should probably
be asked about the role of the Central Intelligence Agency, whose
history of influencing political events in foreign countries is
unmatched.

Compared to the CIA's extensively documented covert operations
to channel funds to political organizations in Indonesia in the
1950s, James Riady's contribution is a bagatelle. And at least,
it is transparent, and until proven otherwise, legal.