The final and binding
ruling by the Supreme Court against the Supersemar Foundation led by
former president Suharto is historic and crucial because it is the first legal
decision against the former dictator and serve as a legal justification of how
corrupt the regime he led was.
The foundation under
Suharto’s decree received part of state-owned banks’ profits since 1976 until
he was unseated in 1998. We can only imagine how much money the foundation
collected during the period. The money was supposed to help poor families with
scholarship. Instead, the money, went to his cronies and families.
While the Rp 4.4
trillion ($323 million) fine ordered by the court to the foundation seems
peanuts, it carried another more crucial ruling. Suharto, who had been
untouchable until he died and remained so up to this court decision, was
declared guilty of misusing the state’s money allocated to the foundation.
So, the ruling can
become an entry point for the state to go after other corruptions done by the
general and his cronies while unveiling misconducts and crimes the regime
committed during its 32-year reign.
For now, it’s his
foundation. But with a little bit of more courage, the state can move forward
to directly charge the former strongman for other power abuses and
extrajudicial killings.
It’s time for the
truth and break the myth of placing Suharto as a hero. He has damaged the
nation almost beyond repair.
His regime has created
an embedded corrupt behavior, collusion and cronyism, producing a nation
without critical thinking and creativity. He is also responsible for making a
corrupt and lazy bureaucracy and in general a high-cost economy full of
rent-seeking businesses.
It’s safe to say that
every bad thing we have now is just a legacy from the regime.
Indonesia will not be
able to move forward unless it can gradually release itself from the legacies
of the darkest period of the nation’s history. Jakarta Globe editorial
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