Who is richer, Gus Dur or Megawati?

Who is richer, Gus Dur or Megawati?

By Kornelius Purba

JAKARTA (JP): According to the official data, Vice President
Megawati Soekarnoputri is 17 times wealthier than President
Abdurrahman Wahid, whose personal assets are valued at Rp 3.5
billion.

But with growing criticism of Megawati's husband Taufik
Kiemas' business activities and corruption allegations against
the President, people may be tempted to believe the two leaders
are worth more than the official data reveals.

With a monthly take-home pay of about Rp 49.77 million, the
President's salary is nearly Rp 10 million more than the Vice
President's, but Megawati still has a much larger bank account
than Abdurrahman.

Megawati's main source of income is her family's eight gas
stations in Greater Jakarta, while Abdurrahman's assets include
Rp 1.72 billion in grants he received from unnamed sources.

On the form she submitted to the Public Servants' Wealth Audit
Commission on March 20, which was made public by the commission
on Wednesday, Megawati combined her assets with those of her
husband, a businessman and member of the House of
Representatives.

Abdurrahman only included his own assets on his form,
apparently because First Lady Sinta Nuriyah is not a money earner
for the family. Interestingly, when reporting his wealth, the
President included Rp 1.72 billion in grants he received between
1999 and 2000.

"We have not audited the wealth list. We just published what
they reported to us," said commission chairman Jusuf Syakir when
making public the details provided by the country's two top
leaders, along with 45 other state officials.

Jusuf said People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais
and House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung had yet to
submit their forms to the commission.

The 1999 law on clean and good governance mandates the
establishment of an independent commission to audit the wealth of
state officials.

This means that for the first time the people of Indonesia can
get a look at the assets of their leaders, something they never
had the chance to do with the country's previous three presidents
and seven vice presidents.

The President estimated the value of his private residence in
Ciganjur, South Jakarta, at about Rp 658 million. He also owns
five cars, the newest one a Peugeot sedan he purchased in 1999.
The President did not include two KIA limousines among his
personal assets. The cars were presented to him and the First
Lady by Hyundai-KIA Motors chairman Chung Mong-koo during a visit
to Seoul early last year.

Abdurrahman's assets also include gold, precious metals and
antiques valued at Rp 1.7 billion. He also has promissory notes
and bank accounts totaling Rp 3.3 billion and US$458 in cash.

In a recent conversation with The Jakarta Post, Mitsuo
Nakamura, a Japanese observer of Indonesian affairs and a
longtime acquaintance of Abdurrahman, said the President's
parents left a very valuable estate to their children.

"From the heritage, they are much wealthier than many people
imagine," said Nakamura of the Wahids.

Megawati and Taufik own 14 properties, including their house
in Kebagusan, near the Ragunan Zoo in South Jakarta, and a plot
of land in Pandeglang, Banten province. Some of the properties,
valued at a total of Rp 24.3 billion, are described as family
estates.

Megawati also owns 12 cars and 10 motorcycles. The status of
her favorite blue VW Beetle, which she often drives, is unclear.

The family's gas stations are located across the city,
including on Jl. Lapangan Roos and on Jl. Sriwijaya, both in
South Jakarta. This first gas station apparently has some
sentimental value for Megawati, and she often visited it before
becoming vice president in October 1999.

"Ibu used to come here because this is among the first
stations she owned," said an employee at the station, who
identified himself as Ahmad.

Then Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin awarded Megawati the
locations for the gas stations in the 1970s when he realized that
then president Soeharto had blocked the businesses of former
president Sukarno's children.

Citing press reports, sociologist George J. Aditjondro, who is
known for his research on corruption in Indonesia, last month
linked Taufik with several tycoons, including Texmaco boss
Marimutu Sinivasan, and the Jakarta Outer Ring Road project.

"Taufik's business activities not only alarm us, but also
Megawati herself. But she recently assured us that she is able to
handle her family's affairs," Megawati's economic adviser told
the Post recently.