Date: 16 Apr 1999 12:16:34
From: mahdi@fhi-berlin.mpg.de
Subject: Re: RT: Suharto lawyers threaten Indonesia's Habibie
To: Recipients of indonesia-act <indonesia-act@igc.org>


In the flood of daily news reports of ever new atrocities committed all
over the country, there is the danger of becoming immune, or taking
"lesser crimes" that are not immediately connected with mass losses of
lives somehow for granted.

So I would like to stop on this one newsreport, and ask you to join me
in savouring the way this ex-dictator takes for granted the right to
consider himself above the law.

> JAKARTA, April 15 (Reuters) - Lawyers for Indonesia's former President
> Suharto said on Thursday they would hand what they allege is evidence of
> corruption by his successor B.J. Habibie to the Attorney General's office if
> a probe into Suharto's wealth is not stopped.

(1) When somebody has evidence or knowledge of a crime, it is his/her
    duty to report this. Not doing so makes the person guilty of concealing
    evidence and an accomplice after the crime.
    Soeharto is confessing here, that he has evidence and that he is keeping
    it concealed from the authorities. He seems to consider himself immune
    before the law that makes it his duty to report such evidence....

(2) Using withheld evidence with the aim of coercing the person who would
    be incriminated by that evidence into performing certain services
    constitutes blackmail. The most amazing thing in this report is that
    Soeharto is openly admitting that he is blackmailing the current
    president.

(3) Even more amazingly, the attorney general seems quite unimpressed by
    these confessions.... He probably thinks that Soeharto indeed stands
    above the law. Which all goes to show, what a long way Reformasi still
    has before any semblance of rule by law is approached......

Regards,   Waruno