Put Suharto on trial, says ex

[suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Headlines 

      Put Suharto on trial, says
      exiled dissident

      JAKARTA -- Prominent dissident George
      Aditjondro yesterday urged the government
      to put former Indonesian president Suharto
      on trial, saying there is enough
      circumstantial evidence to prove his hidden
      fortune. 

      Unless there is a trial, foreign governments
      are unlikely to freeze his family's assets
      abroad, he said during the launch of his
      book on corruption in the Suharto era. 

      ''The fact is that without an official trial, it is
      practically impossible to ask foreign
      governments and banks to freeze his and
      his family's assets,'' he said. 

      Even without a trial, the government could
      at least ''show its commitment'' to
      uncovering the hidden millions by sending
      letters to the countries concerned asking
      them to monitor the assets and to put them
      on hold so they cannot be sold or
      transferred. 

      Suharto is rumoured to have built up a huge
      fortune during his 32 years in power,
      although the former president claims he is
      penniless. 

      ''The longer Habibie waits, the more
      useless the information [on his wealth] will
      be,'' he said, referring to Suharto's
      hand-picked successor President B J
      Habibie. 

      Aditjondro has been living in Australia since
      he was put on a police wanted-list and
      sacked from his university teaching post
      four years ago for defaming Suharto. 

      His book details known foreign assets of
      the Suharto family. He has produced the
      ''list of small parts of wealth of Suharto's big
      family abroad'' and has disseminated it
      through the Internet. 

      They include five houses worth up to $3.2
      million owned by three of Suharto's six
      children and one half-brother in London, five
      houses in the United States, several in
      Bermuda and the Cayman Islands and a
      sprawling farm in New Zealand owned by
      Suharto's youngest son. 

      He also cited a forest concession in
      Surinam controlled by Suharto's half
      brother, a luxury cruiser owned by his
      youngest son in Darwin, Australia, and
      several gas shipping companies in
      Singapore. 

      Suharto's eldest daughter owns the
      operational rights on some 300 kilometres
      of toll roads in Malaysia, the Philippines,
      Burma and China, he claims. 

      The book also lists scores of companies in
      which Habibie and his family members
      have interests along with Suharto ''cronies''.

      The Indonesian attorney-general is
      engaged in an official but much-criticised
      probe of Suharto's alleged wealth. 

      Agencies