The Soeharto soap

A revolving door of powerful political figures summoned for questioning on allegations of corruption, collusion and nepotism has kept the nation entertained. Former president Soeharto has been questioned on two occasions, his sons Bambang Trihatmodjo and Hutomo Mandala Putra several times, and even crony Mohamad "Bob" Hasan has faced the music. His daughter Siti Hardijanti Rukmana may be next on the not so merry merry-go-round. The spectacle of a Who's Who of former movers and shakers called in to answer summonses is welcome amusement and relief for people assaulted by one crisis after another.

But a protracted, unsatisfying yarn is about all we can expect from the public drama played out before us. Like the country's avidly followed but poorly plotted soaps, the sinetron, no conclusive ending, happy or otherwise, probably lies store. It is doubtful whether justice, ostensibly the objective of this whole exercise, will be served.

While there is a general consensus this country was misruled for 32 years under Soeharto, the nation appears completely powerless to punish the very man all and sundry jostle to condemn. As any soap viewer can attest, there is nothing more frustrating, and terrifying, than knowing the villain of the plot is still roaming around free.

The investigation being conducted by Attorney General Andi M. Ghalib appears to be heading off on tangents but ending nowhere, perhaps true to the script he has been given. If anything, the investigation has managed to blur the issue of corruption entirely, shifting the focus away from Soeharto to the minor characters of former Cabinet ministers.

The government is approaching the investigation case by case; the Timor national car project, money administered by charity foundations under Soeharto and ownership of land are among the items on the agenda. God knows how many other cases there will be. Not surprisingly, progress in each of the cases has been painfully slow. Judging by Soeharto's decision to retain a veritable army of lawyers, he plans to doggedly fight each suit brought against him. Stay tuned for drawn-out legal battles, despite President B.J. Habibie's promise the investigation will be completed before June.

And the verdict, if it ever comes, will likely disappoint the public. In a Jan. 2 article in The Jakarta Post, former deputy chief justice Adi Andojo warned that the criminal code, including the 1971 corruption law, does not cover abuses of power, the accusation most often leveled at Soeharto. Adi, an arduous critic of Soeharto, foresees technical legal difficulties for any court to prove the former president was guilty of corruption.

The piecemeal legal approach is thus not only frustratingly prolonged, but almost definitely doomed to fail in upholding justice. Soeharto's misrule can only be tried in a political forum, and the right forum for this is the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the highest political institution. This approach is not unprecedented. The Provisional MPR (MPRS) impeached, rightly or wrongly, Indonesia's first president Sukarno in 1967 for misdeeds committed during his rule. That was enough to disgrace him and banish him from the political arena. While impeachment is impossible against a president no longer in office, the MPR can still condemn Soeharto for any misdeeds he committed between 1967 and 1998. The Portuguese lawyers petitioning to extradite Soeharto and try him on crimes against humanity have the right idea after all.

It would have been too much to expect the MPR to condemn Soeharto in its Special Session in November. After all, the MPR, like the government of President B.J. Habibie, is run mostly by people who owe their positions, if not allegiance, to Soeharto.

This should not prevent the next MPR, which hopefully will be elected democratically, from making such a move against Soeharto. Until this happens, the multiple investigations conducted by Ghalib serve no other purpose but plot ruses to divert the people. The public, like even the most dedicated soap viewers when the plot fails to thicken and matters never come to a head, will tune out unless the villain gets his rightful comeuppance.