Indonesia: corruption case against Suharto family - full text
Searching more than 75 years of world history
The six children of late Indonesian president Suharto failed to appear in court on Feb. 19, after being summonsed to defend a civil corruption case being pursued by the Indonesian government against the former leader. The Indonesian authorities were claiming more than US$1.4 billion of assets and damages. The South Jakarta district court ruled on Feb. 12 that Suharto's six children were to be called to defend the case; under Indonesian law, a deceased defendant in a civil case could be replaced by his or her heirs. Attorney General Hendarman Supandji had said on Jan. 7 that in the event of Suharto’s death a civil case initiated by the government in 2007 to recover some US$441 million allegedly stolen by Suharto under the cover of a charitable fund would continue, with any resultant liabilities falling to Suharto’s children.
Immediate Context
Suharto died aged 86, on Jan. 27 in hospital in Jakarta (the capital) of multiple organ failure, pneumonia, and infections, after having been rushed to hospital in a critical condition on Jan. 4. After Suharto's resignation in May 1998 investigations began into the sources and quantity of the wealth amassed by the Suharto family, but the only member of the family to be convicted of corruption was one of the former president’s sons, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, in September 2000.
Suharto himself, who had suffered a stroke in 1999, was deemed in May 2006 to be too ill to be tried on corruption charges filed against him. However, in 2007 state prosecutors mounted a civil case to attempt the recovery of some US$441 million of state funds allegedly stolen by Suharto.
Reaction and Outlook
The government on Jan. 27 announced seven days of mourning for Suharto and ordered flags to be flown at half mast. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Jan. 14 had called on the country to refrain from discussing pending court cases against Suharto whilst he was in intensive care, and instead to pray for him and recall all he did for the Indonesian people. Suharto’s eldest daughter Siti Hardiyanti "Tutut" Rukmana, on breaking the news of his death, asked people to forgive his faults and mistakes.
It was reported that Suharto’s children had written to President Yudhoyono asking him to intervene to halt proceedings in the civil case. An opinion poll published by the Kompas news website on Jan. 14 found that 66.1 per cent of correspondents would forgive Suharto his mistakes, because of his "service to the nation". Nevertheless, some 61 per cent still supported the continuation of the legal process to recover state wealth allegedly stolen by the Suharto family.
Historical Context
The Indonesian nationalist leader Sukarno declared Indonesia to be a Republic on Aug. 17, 1945, after nearly 350 years of Dutch colonial rule and a further four years of Japanese occupation. After overseeing Indonesia's turbulent transition to independence, Sukarno was eventually replaced as president in 1967 by Suharto, who presided over Indonesia--the world's most-populous Muslim country and largest archipelagic state--with his "New Order" administration for over three decades.
Suharto was born on June 8, 1921, in a village in central Java, near the former royal capital of Yogyakarta (Jogjakarta). After an elementary education, Suharto enlisted in the colonial Royal Netherlands Army in 1940, rising to the rank of sergeant before the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies in March 1942. Suharto joined an Indonesian volunteer force allied to Japan and received further military training from the Japanese army. After Japan’s defeat in August 1945 and Sukarno's declaration of Indonesia’s independence from the Netherlands, Suharto took part in a guerrilla campaign against Dutch forces attempting to reoccupy the former colony.
By the time Indonesia achieved full independence in 1949 Suharto had played a prominent part in several military actions against the Dutch. In 1962 Suharto was in command of the military annexation of the residual Dutch colony of West New Guinea, which was recognised by the UN as the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya (currently Papua) in 1969. Suharto had reached the position of major-general and was appointed head of the army’s elite Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad).
On Sept. 30, 1965, dissident army units, allegedly with the backing of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), abducted and murdered six of the most senior Indonesian armed forces (TNI) generals. Suharto escaped the apparent coup attempt, but as the senior surviving general, he was appointed chief of army staff by President Sukarno and acted swiftly to extinguish the rebellion. With the coup attributed to the PKI, Suharto exploited a wave of anti-communist sentiment, and commenced a purge of PKI members and alleged communist sympathisers. It was estimated that between 500,000 and 1 million people were killed by the end of 1966 and about 200,000 were imprisoned for political reasons.
In March 1966, the PKI was banned and Sukarno signed a document conferring special executive powers on Suharto, who formed a new government in Sukarno’s name that was composed largely of Suharto’s anti-communist allies. In April 1967 the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) voted to strip Sukarno of the presidency and elected Suharto as acting president. Although there were accusations against Sukarno of large-scale corruption and of complicity in the attempted coup of 1965, he was not brought to trial, but lived under house arrest until his death in 1970. On March 27, 1968, the MPR elected Suharto to his first five year term as president; he went on to be re-elected in 1973, 1978, 1983,1988 , 1993, and 1998.
Suharto rejected Sukarno’s later concept of Nasakom, which consisted of balancing the forces of nationalism, communism, and Islam. Instead, Indonesia began to increase its prominence on the world stage: Suharto ended Sukarno’s "anti-imperialist" policy of "confrontation" with Malaysia on the divided island of Borneo, rejoined the UN, discarded an alliance with Maoist China, and opened relations with the IMF. Suharto opened Indonesia up to overseas investment and accelerating the development of industry, particularly the oil and gas sector. Suharto became a valuable ally for the West against communism, enabling Suharto to invade East Timor--a Portuguese colony in transition to independence--without objection from the West. Up to 200,000 Timorese were estimated to have died as a consequence of the 25 years of Indonesian occupation , through military violence, famine, and disease.
By the time Suharto was re-elected president in 1993 discontent was growing, much of it focused on the vast wealth amassed by Suharto’s wife Siti Hartinah Suharto (who died in 1996) and the couple’s six children. Suharto allowed the relaxation of political and media controls, enabling the emergence of credible political opposition leaders, including Sukarno’s daughter Megawati Sukarnoputri, and a critical press.
The effects of the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98 combined with a drought in Indonesia caused a plunge in the value of the rupiah (the currency), steep rises in the prices of petrol, gas, and basic food commodities, mass bankruptcies, and widespread unemployment, leading to increasing civil unrest. The economic crisis forced Suharto to negotiate a US$49 billion rescue package with the IMF, in exchange for cutting subsidies, closing down banks, and a reduction of the economic privileges of Suharto’s family.
The MPR’s final re-election of Suharto as president in March 1998 triggered a new wave of unrest, led by student demonstrations demanding his resignation. In May Suharto’s refusal to consider further political reforms, combined with soaring prices, set off riots in Jakarta, Medan (Sumatra), and other cities. Suharto cancelled previously announced price rises and offered political concessions, but when the leadership of the armed forces and senior members of Golkar, Suharto’s political vehicle, withdrew their support, he saw that it was too late and resigned on May 21. Suharto was succeeded by Vice President B.J. Habibie, who immediately pledged greater political freedom and legislative elections in May 1999. In July 1999, Megawati Sukarnoputri, leader of the reformist Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and daughter of Sukarno became Indonesia's first female president.
Indonesia has experienced a shift towards democracy after Suharto's fall from power. However, increased ethnic and religious tensions have emerged within Indonesia, tensions which had previously been controlled by Suharto's authoritarian rule. President Yudhoyono, the incumbent sixth president of Indonesia, led the country through a series of disasters, including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the October 2005 Bali bombings. Yudhoyono also faced secessionist demands from several provinces--including Aceh, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Papua, and West Papua--which intensified after East Timor's successful secession in May 2002.
