Touching Ghalib's conscience

Touching Ghalib's conscience

By Rahayu Ratnaningsih

BOGOR, West Java (JP): Many a truth is said in jest, goes one
old adage. With Indonesia's (ex) attorney general, one can't help
but jest about his life drama. And wrestle is the key word here.

No one perhaps knew that the recently resigned attorney
general turned out to be a very dedicated supporter of wrestling
as a sport until Indonesian Corruption Watch's (ICW) revelation
of his personal accounts two weeks ago.

What people did notice was that this man seemed like a
remarkably persistent wrestler of his battered image. His
performance during 10 months in office is quite impressive: a
chicken and Soeharto Award, both were awarded by the students, on
top of regular and incessant mockery and condemnation from the
public whose interest he is supposed to represent.

Despite everything, he seemed unflustered. He is indeed a
tough wrestler, and the most celebrated one, for sure. People
probably wondered how, until they found out that Rp 13 billion,
Rp 9.2 billion of which was acquired between September 1998 to
May 1999, was sitting in his and his wife's numerous accounts.
Not bad a job if you enjoy that sort of income in less than a
year. To put it rather bluntly, with that sort of money one can
wrestle joyfully and comfortably for the rest of one's life. A
friend mumbled rather solemnly, "You can wrestle the whole world
with Rp 13 billion."

The amusing irony was that while he was wrestling abroad to
trace Soeharto's accounts, his own accounts were successfully
"traced" probably by certain parties who could no longer wrestle
the temptation to teach him a lesson. And he barked, how could
anyone do this to a man who did everything in his power to
wrestle corruption, cronyism and nepotism KKN? Isn't it repulsive
sabotage, a conspiracy to defame his reputation?

Some voices "defended" Ghalib by saying that the Rp 450
million from Prajogo Pangestu and The Nin King was indeed
transferred to PGSI's account, only that PGSI here stands for Pak
Ghalib Serta Isteri or Mr. Ghalib and wife, instead of Persatuan
Gulat Seluruh Indonesia (Indonesia Wrestling Association).
Another revelation by ICW on the same day of his resignation, 14
June, was that there was another two transfers amounting to Rp
275 million on February an March 1999 from a businessman, known
as Ganda, who had been officially barred from leaving the country
for a legal case he was facing that now has been left untouched,
to another account under his name.

The Ghalib episode is just the tip of the iceberg. It is
common knowledge among the Indonesian people that even for
government officials of the mid to lower echelons, let alone high
profile ministers, Rp 13 billion is by no means a staggering
amount worth fussing about. The mentality is that it's a kind of
fringe benefit that goes with the position that people,
especially the officials concerned, have now taken for granted
for decades.

That Soeharto was toppled by people power last year due to,
among other things, rampant corruption, turned out to be an
insufficient catalyst to overhaul the old mentality. Kwik Kian
Gie even hinted that KKN has increased in the last year since,
realizing that the clock was ticking and time was not on their
sides, many government officials really took advantage of the
short time they had in office.

ICW threatened to reveal more accounts under Ghalib's name in
other banks. The natural inference is if Ghalib who has only
served less than one year in the government could save that much
money, what about those who have been in the government for
years, some over 10 years? How much do they have? ICW has
promised to present its findings on other high-ranking officials'
accounts to the public after Ghalib's case has been completed and
it maintained that there was no way that he could escape
indictment. Is that so?

The reality is the new regime under Habibie is still
maintaining the old paradigm of not wholeheartedly pursuing any
corruption allegations concerning high-ranking officials. It
never happened before and it is still not happening now. His
decision prior to what is officially known as the voluntary
suspension appeal, to audit Ghalib's accounts without indictment,
was basically a way of telling people that law was not blind,
that law enforcement would depend on one's status and position.
Common people would need to be indicted first to enable his
wealth to be audited, but not an attorney general.

This inconsistency was a serious infringement on the supremacy
of law. And the other important thing to note is his bizarre
choice of Feisal Tandjung, the Coordinating Minister of Politics
and Security to replace Ghalib. For one thing is Tandjung is of
military and none of law background. For another is he has never
been known as a reformist figure in any way, not to mention that
the demanding job as an attorney general can unlikely be two-
timed with another key position in the cabinet. So how can he
expected be to perform better than disastrous Ghalib?

This unwise move indicates that Habibie is not serious in his
law enforcement agenda. Mind you this is the time that Habibie,
as a presidential contender, is supposed to market himself as a
pro-reform candidate, most suitable for corruption ravaged
Indonesia. What would happen when he runs for another term in
office, legitimately this time? What could people expect from him
in term of abolishing KKN? Accordingly, it's about time for him
to start packing his family's pictures from his desk and get
ready for departure. The sooner he realizes that he is in no way
a feasible presidential candidate that people want and need the
wiser. What people want is the type of leader who has no qualms
about firing a subordinate because his wife accepted designers'
clothes such as the case of Korea's Justice Minister.

ICW is gaining momentum as the instrumental tool for
uncovering as well as deterring corruption. And the precedent
that a high-ranking official was forced to voluntarily resign
following a corruption allegation, however late, has been set. In
the near future, there will be no big daddy who will protect
corrupters and appease the public's outcry as commonly and
regularly happened during Soeharto's reign. The combat of KKN
should be a zero-sum game, no more and no less. Surely, other
officials or ex-officials with Ghalib's reputation and philosophy
of life, who are thousands in number, are currently having a
hissy fit because they might be the next victims any day soon.
This will be a big project to tackle, but someone has got to do
it.

What the new government should immediately do will be to
implement an intense, relentless campaign, not unlike the one on
the recent election funded by UNDP, in all media especially TV
and radio. The campaign shall instill fear, stigma and shame on
the act of corruption. It should call for people to also have an
active role in the prevention and monitoring of KKN occurrence,
one of which is to report any knowledge of corruption to the
authorities. It should appeal to family members, wives and
children, of those in power to be ashamed of the wealth they
don't deserve. A paradigm shift can only take place when shame is
properly and constantly instilled into the people's minds. The
success of the recent election was the proof of the effectiveness
of a committed media campaign.

What urgently needs to be done is to revise the corruption
law. The onus of proof should be on the accused to establish
innocence rather than the prosecution to prove guilt. Under this
amendment, people like Ghalib have to prove to the court that
their wealth is not illegitimately acquired.

If he indeed had substantial savings prior to his appointment
as the attorney general, he should tell the court what means
could enable him to earn that much money. Did he own a business
because by any method of calculation there would be no way his
previous positions as a deputy governor and an overseas-based
diplomat alone could afford him and his wife the kind of luxury
they are currently enjoying?

If he did own a business then it would be another case of
violation of oath because a government official is prohibited to
venture in business. If he got it from his "friends" as he said
in Panji magazine, then he has to explain in what capacity his
"friends'" gift was accepted. And again, it would be another case
of serious violation because as a government official he is not
permitted to receive any gifts from anyone.

Supposed what he said, that the transfer from the two tycoons
was for PGSI, was true, he is still in the wrong for: one,
breaking the ethical code that he, as a crusader of justice, must
strictly adhere to and two, for failing to separate his personal
from professional or organizational interest by having PGSI's
account under his name.

As a man well versed in the law, this should have been basic
knowledge for him. Any prosecutor, in his right mind, wouldn't
have accepted any sort of contribution either to him personally
or his fostered organizations from those who he knows for a fact
could potentially create a conflict of interest to his "delicate"
position. And certainly he would never have received it through
his personal account. It is simply sloppy and foolish. His
naivete, or perhaps more correctly complacence, is simply
unacceptable and it shows his obvious lack of professionalism and
judgment. For those reasons alone, Habibie has enough grounds to
terminate him.

At any rate, as claimed by Teten Masduki from ICW, there is no
way Andi Ghalib could be spared from legal consequences this
time. Any argument that could be found by him and his lawyer can
and will eventually be used against him. His action is simply
indefensible by any norm, logic or standard of common decency.

"Corruption is a matter of the detriment of morality. The
people concerned should be made ashamed and deterred." Who would
expect that the above lines were taken from his biography in the
celebration of his 53rd birthday?

Following his own sermon, he should support what ICW is doing,
though conviction shall still be established by the court.
Finally people get what they have always wanted, namely Ghalib's
resignation, after months of being fooled around with and one
scandalous incident after another involving him. This should be a
painful lesson for other high-ranking officials who know that
they are not clean themselves. Soon, you all shall follow in his
footsteps.

The writer is director of the Satori Foundation, a center for
the study and development of human excellence through mind
programming techniques.