KPK TARGET LAWMAKERS IN BI GRANT PROBE
(RACHMAD YULIADI MASIR, RBACAKORAN AT YAHOO DOT COM)
INDEPENDENT-After naming three Bank Indonesia (BI) top officials as suspects in alleged graft involving the central bank's fund, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has turned its attentions toward a selection of politicians.
"It is very likely that the number of suspects will rise," KPK Chairman Antasari Azhar told a press conference Wednesday.
The commission's investigators have found traces of current and former House of Representatives lawmakers who received the BI fund.
The KPK declared BI Governor Burhanuddin Abdullah, BI Legal Affairs Director Oey Hoey Tiong and former head of BI's communication bureau Rusli Simanjuntak as suspects in the graft case.
Antasari said the three officials were responsible for the transfer of Rp 100 billion from Indonesian Banking Development Foundation funds to a number of House Commission IX members overseeing financial affairs during the amendment of the law on BI.
He said the funds were also transferred to lawyers hired to settle BI liquidity support cases involving former BI governor and deputy governor.
The money was disbursed between 2003 and 2004.
KPK investigators said they would start questioning witnesses on Thursday.
Controversy has surrounded KPK's inability to name other BI officials who attended the gubernatorial meeting when the decision to disburse funds was made.
The relative law surrounding BI stipulates the decision can only be made by the Council of Governors through the Council's meeting.
Antasari said the commission would conduct a full investigation ranging from the disbursement process of the funds and the persons who accepted the money.
"All of them must be held responsible," he said.
A number of House politicians said they were suspicious of the move against Burhanuddin and said it was aimed at preventing him from reelection.
Burhanuddin's term expires in May this year.
Antasari denied the allegations and said the investigation had been underway since last year.
"Do not politicize the investigation," he said.
The alleged misappropriation of the BI funds was discovered during an audit in 2006 by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), whose chairman Anwar Nasution was the BI Senior Deputy Governor before his election as the BPK top post in 2004.
The commission's Director of Investigation Ade Rahardja told The Jakarta Post the commission did not need to seek permission from the President to investigate Burhanuddin.
"Article 46 of the Law No. 30/2002 on the Commission rules that no such permission is needed," Ade said.
In response to the implication of BI top officials in the graft case, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said legal measures should not disrupt the central bank's duties.
"We believe and hope our friends at the Bank Indonesia as the country's monetary authorities will continue to work professionally," presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said on behalf of the President.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the legal process involving Burhanuddin should be allowed to go on while the government was upholding the principle of presumption of innocence.
"We (the government) always adhere to the principle of presumption of innocence, so let the legal process go on," Kalla was quoted by Antara as saying at the Golkar Party headquarters.
JAKARTA JANUARY 31, 2008
Court ponders Soeharto hero status
(RACHMAD YULIADI NASIR, rbacakoran at yahoo dot com)
INDEPENDENT-The court was still considering a civil law suit against Soeharto so now was not the time to consider giving the former leader the title of hero, said People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Hidayat Nurwahid.
"Let's wait for the court's verdict," Hidayat told reporters on Wednesday.
"Once we are done with his legal problems, the public can have a more objective discussion to see whether he deserves to be named an Indonesian hero or not."
He said Indonesia, as a constitutional state, required legal procedures before naming anybody as a national hero.
Hidayat said giving Soeharto a hero status without waiting for the court's decisions would counter MPR Decree No. 11/1998, which says the government must investigate and prosecute Soeharto, his family, and his cronies for alleged corrupt practices.
"This decree does not distinguish between criminal cases and civil cases," Hidayat said.
"The government has to take legal action on any corruption allegedly practiced by Soeharto, his family and cronies."
State prosecutors had stopped the criminal proceeding against Soeharto due to his health problems.
However, the civil suit against Soeharto and his Supersemar foundation has continued.
After the former leader's death on Sunday, the South Jakarta District Court decided his heirs must stand in his place.
Hidayat said the court's decision on this case could become a consideration in the government's evaluation around whether Soeharto was a hero or not.
State Secretary Hatta Radjasa said candidates for a hero status had to be proposed by a province through a governor or a provincial administration.
Names had to be submitted to a Heroes Assessment Body under the Social Welfare Ministry.
"This organization is comprised of, among others, historians and scholars," he said.
The body will debate whether the proposed persons are worthy enough to be named as heroes before the selected names are presented to House of Representatives.
The House debates the proposal before the decided names are sent to the president.
"The president usually name heroes on National Heroes' Day," said Hatta, who refused to comment on Soeharto's case.
The House is deliberating a bill on state titles, awards and honors, which will include mechanisms for naming somebody a national hero, he said.
Sri Harini of the House's special committee for the bill said the legislation was being formulated to simplify the process of honoring meritorious Indonesians.
"So far the mechanisms exist in about 23 different legislative products," she said.
The bill says the title of national hero can be bestowed to citizens who have died defending or serving the country.
The title can also be given to Indonesians who during their lifetime have performed heroic efforts for the country and who have no negative record.
Harini said the bill's content could be changed during the process of deliberation.
"We aim to finish this legislation by the end of July this year."
Harini, a member of the Golkar party faction at the House, said her faction had proposed Soeharto be named a hero because of his achievements.
"According to Golkar, Pak Harto had contributed a lot to Indonesia and deserved to be named as a hero," she said.
However, she said it was too early for the matter to be raised since the legislation was not finished yet.
Hidayat also saw no urgency in naming Soeharto as a hero.
"I am so sorry for Pak Harto.
"He passed away just a moment ago but people have already raised controversial issues relating to him.
"Why we don't just let him rest in peace for a while," he said.
JAKARTA JANUARY 31, 2008
MYSTICISM KEPT SOEHARTO STRONG, RESEARCHER SAYS
(RACHMAD YULIADI NASIR, rbacakoran at yahoo dot com)
INDEPENDENT-Researchers and onlookers have suggested Soeharto's strength and ability to fight his fluctuating medical condition lay in his faith in the kejawen (Javanese cosmic mysticism), as well as the many charms he owned.
MT Arifin, a Javanese cultural observer, has researched the life of Raden Mas Said, founder of Pura Mangkunegaran palace in Surakarta, Central Java, and said Soeharto owned some 233 charms.
Also the former head of research at the Muhammadiyah University in Surakarta, Arifin said Soeharto acquired the charms "by performing meditations and the kungkum ritual of immersing himself in tributaries."
He said Soeharto's habit of meditating and immersing himself in rivers had contributed to his resilience in life and the former leader's ability to withstand the critical medical conditions he endured many times.
Despite his penchant for rituals related to magic, however, Arifin said Soeharto's faith in Islam never deviated.
"He had a strong basis in Islam," Arifin said.
"His faith was based on the tasawuf (inner, mystical and psycho-spiritual) tradition in Islam," he said, referring to Romo Daryatmo in Wonogiri as Soeharto's spiritual teacher during his younger days.
Romo Daryatmo, said Arifin, was a spiritualist who combined makrifat (highest knowledge) Islamic teachings with Javanese mystical traditions.
These traditions are oriented to Mangkunegaran, one of the centers of Javanese culture.
Soeharto's wife, Mrs. Tien Soeharto, was a distant relative of king Mangkunegara III.
"Soeharto was not a kejawen believer, as most people thought. His source of spirituality was still Islam," Arifin said.
According to a spiritualist from Miri in Sragen regency, Wardi, 46, Soeharto possessed certain supernatural powers and was invulnerable to wounds.
"The suffering he endured before dying was the result of kejawen practices, even though it is beyond our common sense," Wardi said.
The Astana Giribangun family mausoleum Soeharto built was designed to resemble the Astana Girilayu burial complex where Mangkunegaran rulers were entombed.
Wardi said the mausoleum was "just normal for him".
Soeharto had been heavily influenced by the "royalty mindset" of his wife and wanted to please her, he said.
"Especially Bu Tien wished to raise the status of her mother (Gray Hatmanti Soemoharyomo) as a Mangkunegaran aristocrat."
Arifin said Soeharto did not have any issue with his wife's beliefs.
He said Soeharto was raised according to Yogyakarta tradition, but buried in the Surakarta area, and that both areas were prone to traditional frictions.
"Soeharto was not influenced by the Yogyakarta Sultanate tradition, which is different from that of the Mangkunegaran," Arifin said.
Sebelas Maret University historian Sudharmono said regardless of where he was accepted, as a Yogyakartan or Surakartan, Soeharto "had been co-opted into his wife's noble desire".
"In various aspects of his life, Bu Tien was very influential, such as realizing the construction of the family mausoleum near the burial site where Mangkunegaran rulers are buried," Sudharmono said.
"It is none other than to satisfy his wife's obsession -- acknowledgment as a kin of the Mangkunegaran dynasty," he said.
BEST REGARD
RACHMAD YULIADI NASIR
INDEPENDENT
rbacakoran at yahoo dot com
