Asia Times: Akbar cuts off his nose to save face


	January 11, 2002	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

Akbar cuts off his nose to save face
By Ken Ntalarana

JAKARTA - At a glance, it looks as if the world is crumbling on Golkar chair Akbar Tandjung, but the declaration by the Attorney General's Office this week that Tandjung's status had been elevated from a witness to a suspect in a financial scandal might prove to be a tactical defeat designed to save his own political career and the very existence of the Golkar party that he chairs.

Tandjung seems to have allowed himself to be declared a suspect in a financial scandal involving State Logistics Agency (Bulog) in the hope that his suspect-status will thwart grueling and humiliating scrutiny by members of the House of Representatives (DPR) who are increasingly determined to set up an inquiry team to unravel his alleged corruption. An inquiry by the DPR would be very embarrassing and costly for both Tandjung and his Golkar party as it would have to track down money flows from Bulog to the last recipient.

Many analysts here believe, and some Golkar leaders have admitted, that the Rp40 billion (roughly US$4 million) Tandjung allegedly took from Bulog went to Golkar to finance party campaigns and buy votes in the 1999 general election, labeled as the first ever democratic election since the country declared independence in 1945. Should this be proven in the House, the Supreme Court would have all the reasons to disband Golkar, something that students and pro-democracy activists have long sought.

A political party law issued in 1999, for example, stipulates that a political party is allowed to accept corporate donations not over Rp150 million a year, and individual donations not in excess of Rp15 million. An election law issued in 1999 also bans political parties from engaging in money politics. A violation of either the laws constitutes a sufficient reason for the Supreme Court to disband a party.

While the same information could be unraveled in a court trial, it would take time - probably years - to prove it. With the next general election scheduled for 2004, most people would most probably have forgotten about Golkar's involvement in a scandal six years before. And given Indonesia's corrupt court and political intricacies, Golkar and Tandjung have a great chance to go unscathed.

Bringing the investigation to the House would accelerate Tandjung's political demise and threaten the very existence of Golkar party itself, something that Golkar legislators are well aware of. The inquiry into former president Adurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, which ended with Wahid being removed by members of the People's Consultative Assembly, the country's highest legislative body, showed just how easily "sensitive information" unearthed in the inquiry room gets leaked to the press. Golkar and Tandjung know that only too well.

Sadly, most legislators in the House, knowingly or unknowingly, are dancing to the tune played out by Golkar, the political machinery used by former dictator Suharto to run - and ruin - the country for over 30 years. No less that Taufik Kiemas, the husband of President Megawati Sukarnoputri, has expressed his opposition to the setting up of a House inquiry team to investigate Tandjung. Almost immediately after the Attorney-General's Office declared Tandjung as a suspect, Taufik, a legislator of Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), told the press that his party would block any effort to form a team to probe Tandjung, arguing that the matter should be dealt with by the Attorney-General's Office. "PDI Perjuangan Chair [Megawati] would instruct its legislators in the House not to pursue plans to set up an inquiry team," Taufik said.

Taufik's stance was an about-face, as PDI Perjuangan legislators, together with their close allies from the National Awakening Party (PKB), have always been at the forefront in calling for an inquiry by the House. All House factions have also agreed to meet on January 21 to decide whether or not to investigate Tandjung. PDI Perjuangan is the biggest faction in the House, with 153 members.

Revenge and betrayal by his party colleagues might also have led to the declaration of Tandjung as a suspect in the financial scandal. As Golkar chairman and House Speaker, party colleagues had hoped that Tandjung would enjoy enormous bargaining power against attempts to investigate alleged corruption by high-profile members of Golkar, which ruled the country for over three decades. But Tandjung failed to live up to their expectations, prompting them to spill the beans.

Tandjung harvested anger and wrath from his party colleagues when he failed to protect or at least to defend party leaders and cadres implicated in numerous corruption cases. Ginandjar Kartasasmita, an economic czar under Suharto's regime and an influential politician within the Golkar party, was forced to abandon his fellowship at Harvard University in the United States, after the then attorney-general Marzuki Darusman, also a Golkar leader, declared him a suspect in cases of corruption involving oil projects in the country.

Tandjung also failed to protect fellow party leader Rahardi Ramelan, the main suspect in a Rp54.5 billion scandal. Ramelan, who held the trade and industry ministry portfolio and was the Bulog chair during B J Habibie's presidential regime, implicated Tandjung and former armed forces chief General (retired) Wiranto.

The latest to speak out was Habibie, who was grilled by state prosecutors in Germany. While the whole investigation is yet to be made public, Habibie, who took over the national leadership after former dictator Suharto was forced to step down in May 1998, reportedly "deviated from pre-scripted story line" designed to save both Habibie and Tandjung.

Habibie, for example, denied Tandjung's statement that Tandjung, who then held the powerful minister/state secretary portfolio, was asked to participate in government-sponsored food distribution program for people most affected by the economic crisis. Habibie also denied recognition of Raudlatul Jannah Foundation, a little-known Islamic foundation that Tandjung said received the Rp40 billion. Most of all, Habibie denied that Tandjung had reported to him, either verbally or in written report, on the use of the Rp40 billion in funds Tandjung received from Bulog. "Until I stepped down, I did not receive neither verbal nor written report from Akbar Tandjung on the use of Rp40 billion Bulog funds," Habibie was quoted by his lawyers as telling state prosecutors.

Habibie's "deviation" constitutes his sweet revenge against Tandjung, who in the 1999 presidential election conspired with anti-Habibie forces in the country 's top legislative body that elects and/or fires the president and vice president, in rejecting Habibie's accountability speech, effectively thwarting his presidential bid. Needless to say, the betrayal left a deep, hard-to-heal wound that continues to threaten Golkar's unity.

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