What about Soeharto?

To most of us it must be heartening to see that besides setting a definite agenda for democratic reform through fair and open general elections as soon as possible, other issues of grave national concern such as putting a limit on the political role of the now all-powerful Armed Forces (ABRI) -- especially by reducing, if not altogether abolishing, the number of seats it is appointed in the House of Representatives -- are getting the due attention of representatives at the ongoing Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

One might on the other hand wonder, though, why such a seemingly simple issue such as holding ex-president Soeharto accountable for the wrongdoings he committed while he was in power over the past 32 years appears to be making little headway in the Assembly's discussions. After all, as holder of the MPR's mandate to govern, wouldn't it be natural to expect a president to present the Assembly with an account of his acts and policies whenever he ends his term or resigns? And wouldn't it be only natural to expect the MPR to ask for such an account?

With this being the last day of the MPR Special Session, however, reports coming out of the Assembly have indicated that there is little hope that a specific decree calling for an investigation into the wealth of the former president and that of his family and cronies will be forthcoming since both the Golkar and Armed Forces (ABRI) factions, who together dominate the Assembly, have refused to discuss the proposal altogether.

The minority United Development Party (PPP), reflecting the feeling of people outside the MPR building, is the only faction in the Assembly calling for such a decree. Golkar and ABRI are only willing as far as inserting the subject as a clause in a decree on clean governance. This is another display of their halfhearted commitment to clean up corruption. A clause in a decree can easily be ignored, but a specific decree would give the needed impetus to kick start the investigation.

One might ask how -- without an official probe into the Soeharto clan's wealth, its extent and how it was acquired -- the Assembly expects to effectively establish good and clean governance -- a goal that all parties claim to be set on achieving. A solid future cannot be built on decayed foundations.

As the public understands it, one major difficulty in tracing irregularities in the Soeharto clan's ownership of assets is that many or most of them appear to have been properly acquired -- that is, at least when measured by strictly legal standards. Yet, in the public's reasoning, considering the unbelievable extent of the family's holdings -- not to mention cronies -- they clearly must have been accumulated through improper means. Evidently there is a good deal to say for this line of reasoning. Few if any of the public companies which this country counts, for example, are not in some way or another dependent on services that can be provided only by companies owned by members or cronies of Soeharto's family.

Corruption? Not necessarily if one were to look only at the terms of the contracts. Yet, obviously, this is not a situation that a democratic egalitarian society would tolerate. Obviously, it is primarily the government's task to initiate this huge job of laying bare the tentacles of corruption and/or mismanagement that have undermined our economy for so long. On the practical side, uncovering the economic and bureaucratic mismanagement of the Soeharto era could make it easier for the authorities to recover lost assets and set standards for improvement. Proving irregularities could also make it easier for the government to renegotiate unfavorable contracts with foreign partners.

Last but certainly not least, a good deal more sincerity than is apparent now in probing the Soeharto fortunes would also appease critics who believe the government is either unable or unwilling to reveal Soeharto's past misdeeds.

Unfortunately, the only thing such hesitance achieves is to arouse suspicions that our present bureaucratic elite -- who were all or nearly all raised under the New Order -- has itself things to hide that could not bear to see the light of day.