International

Tandjung arrest, a bold move

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE MARCH. 8 . The arrest of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker, Akbar Tandjung, and the decision to try Tommy Suharto, son of former dictator, Gen. Suharto, on murder charges are bold moves by the President, Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Mr. Akbar's arrest, surprising as it was, comes at a time when Indonesians had come to believe that Governments were far from serious about tackling the problem of corruption.

As leader of the Golkar party, which has about 30 per cent of all seats in the House and is the second largest party in the DPR, Mr. Akbar is a powerful politician and contended for the post of President in elections scheduled for 2004.

Given the fact that Ms. Megawati's Cabinet has Golkar members, her Government could be faced with some turbulence from Mr. Akbar arrest in a case of embezzlement of U.S. $4 million from the State logistics agency, Bulog.

Ms. Megawati's decision to order the Attorney-General's office to arrest Mr. Akbar is definitely going to win her popular support since he is the most senior Indonesian politician to face corruption charges.

Most of Gen. Suharto's cronies have gone free as has his family barring Tommy Suharto, who was an absconder from the law after being sentenced to an 18-month jail term in a corruption case. Yesterday, the police announced that Tommy was an accused in the July 2001 murder of Supreme Court judge, Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, the man who sentenced the junior Suharto to the 18-month jail term.

Having taken these two decisions, Indonesians will now maintain a close watch on the course these two cases take.

On Mr. Akbar's front, the next moves by Golkar will have to be closely watched. Though there are some dissident elements who had asked Mr. Akbar to resign as the DPR Speaker, the Golkar leader did not oblige them.

In Jakarta, a Golkar functionary said the party may suspend its political activity in the House of Representatives. A top Golkar official and State Minister for Information, Syamsul Muarif, said that he would resign over the Akbar affair. In a related development, the Chief Security Minister, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, said the President was monitoring developments and was not unduly concerned by political developments.

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