Nurul Hidayati, Jakarta – Arbi Sanit, a political observer from the University of Indonesia, is of the view that the a report by Transparency International (TI) which says that former President Suharto is the richest corrupter in the world, will indeed benefit the Cendana [Suharto’s Central Jakarta neighborhood, the relatives of of the Suharto clan] clique’s political party, the National Functional Party of Concern (PKPB).
According to Sanit, the wealth owned by Suharto is the spuring force for the party which has put forward [Suharto’s eldest daughter] Siti “Tutut” Hardiyanti Rukmana as its presidential candidate. “This clearly shows the size of PKPB’s election funds. With this capital, PKPB can win because they have a huge amount of money”, said Sanit in an interview with Detik.com on Friday March 26. Put crudely, “Here, I’ve got heaps of dough. What’ya want?”, added Sanit.
On Thursday, the London based Transparency International published the names of a number of corrupters linked to politics. Suharto was ranked first with a wealth of 15-35 billion dollars US. Second was Ferdinand Marcos from the Philippines with 5-10 billion dollars, Mobutu Sese Seko (Zaire) 4 billion dollars, Sani Abacha (Nigeria) 2-5 billion dollars, Slobodon Milosevic (Yugoslavia) 1 billion dollars, J.C. Duvalier (Haiti) 300-800 million dollars, Alberto Fujimori (Peru) 600 million dollars, Pavlo Lazarenko (Ukraine) 114-200 million dollars, Arnoldo Aleman (Nicaraqua) 100 million dollars and Joseph Estrada (Philippines) 78-80 million dollars. All of this wealth is estimated to have been derived from corruption based on data on the embezzlement of public fund which has occurred.
Furthermore said Sanit, in order to win the elections, PKPB, in promoting Tutut and [party chairperson and former army chief] R. Hartono, they must obtain 75 million votes. “If one person is given just 1 million rupiah, of course they could win. Tutut could become president. It’s not impossible because the Cendana’s wealth is massive, [just look at] the evidence in the TI report”, said Sanit.
Sanit did not think that the TI report would have a negative impact on PKPB who continually glorify Suharto. “Perhaps those who will be influenced will only be the middle and upper classes, they total only 10 per cent [of the population]. Meanwhile the other 90 per cent? They don’t have access to this information”, said Sanit. (nrl)
[Translated by James Balowski.]
