The tale from the tape

The tale from the tape

The fact that many Indonesians look in quite a jovial mood
these days does not mean that the devastating economic crisis has
ended. They simply say they have a jocular topic in their daily
conversation: the leakage of a telephone conversation between
President B.J. Habibie and Attorney General Andi M. Ghalib about,
among other things, the investigation into former president
Soeharto's alleged corruption.

The truth of such a scandal is always questionable, but the
fact that Habibie has ordered a probe into the leak shows that
the conversation did take place despite Ghalib's denial. Most
people who listened to the conversation played by private station
ANtv on Thursday said they were convinced that these were the
identifiable voices of the two important personalities.

In the age of high technology, presidential conversations are
frequently recorded in many modern countries. The question now is
why the security agency at the palace has been so careless in
securing the secrecy around the head of state. Is it part of its
nationwide failure, which is apparent, among other things, in the
prevention of the fatal riots which have taken place in many
areas since last year?

However, while the investigation is underway, perhaps, one
thing is for sure, and that is that the person or persons who
bugged the conversation must have an adequate technological
capability and the distribution seems to have been politically
motivated.

In this case, security during Soeharto's presidency was
tighter so that no such disgrace ever took place. And had it
happened, no element of the mass media would have been bold
enough to report it, as Panji Masyarakat did this week. But the
biweekly magazine looked careful enough in its publication of the
transcript of the palace conversation and indeed had earlier
tried to obtain confirmation from Ghalib, but the latter refused
to talk. In its fastidiousness Panji also talks of "the voice
sounding like Habibie's or Ghalib's" in leading readers to the
conversation.

Anyway, the freedom of the press granted to the nation by the
government has been demonstrated in ironic fashion for some of
the authorities who still have to learn the vast spectrum of
democracy. A free press always looks like a stained mirror for a
scarred face.

On the other hand, the recording also speaks another truth
about the Soeharto investigation. It clearly confirms the public
belief that the questioning of businessmen Arifien Panirogo and
Sofjan Wanandi at the same time as the Attorney General's Office
was busy investigating the disgraced dictator forms part of an
effort to switch public attention from the probe into his case.

So far the people have been inclined to believe that the
Soeharto probe is just a farcical show of the government's
sincerity. Ghalib's remarks claiming Soeharto's innocence in this
case reflect poor logic.

We are of the opinion that Habibie should bear in mind that
the way the game has been played is a blatant obstruction of
justice and is in contempt of the order of the People's
Consultative Assembly, the country's highest constitutional body,
to investigate the cases of corruption and crony capitalism,
especially those which involve Soeharto. Moreover, the President
has also reportedly told Muslim scholars here that he will not
bring his predecessor to justice. The farce will surely anger
law-abiding Indonesians and eventually provoke the establishment
of a "people's court".

This time the attorney general should also be careful in
denying his role in the conversation because there is a high tech
device now capable of detecting the timbre of one's voice. When
needed, this probe should be carried out by independent
investigators.

The issue sounds very problematic but the people do not
necessarily share Habibie's headache because, as Panji has
reported, there are more recordings of palace conversations now
being distributed. So Indonesians have more soothing and
entertaining stories to look forward to.