Indonesia: Attack on Corruption

Five years ago, Indonesian students joined forces with the army in an effective coalition, which eventually overthrew the country's founder and longtime President Sukarno, largely on charges of corruption and mismanagement. Now Indonesia's students are once again on the march against corruption. This time the target is their former military allies.

For weeks the students, along with the liberal intelligentsia, have been staging protest demonstrations against widespread corruption among the ruling military elite, and the press has ranted against the dishonesty of many ranking officials. Foreign companies have complained that they were forced to make payoffs in order to get permission to do business in Indonesia. Foreign investors, who are not eager to commit their money to a country where they feel corruption is holding back true economic progress, reported their objections to President Suharto, a general who is a scrupulously honest man. He listened and evidently agreed.

Last week, in an address to Parliament on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the country's independence, President Suharto pledged an all-out attack on corruption in high places. "The fight against corruption is under my direct leadership," he declared. He endorsed recommendations prohibiting government officials from accepting commissions from Indonesian and foreign businessmen. He ordered high of ficials to report their total incomes, including profits from extracurricular activities. He has also ordered the attorney general to streamline an anticorruption task force, and he submitted to Parliament a new bill that would render those who accept kickbacks and payoffs liable to fines and imprisonment.

One-Man Aid Program. Suharto faces a tough battle against corruption, for Indonesia, like most Asian countries, finds graft and payoffs an almost necessary way of life. Loyalties belong first to family and friends, with the country running a poor second.

The military commander who is most deeply involved in Indonesia's economics is Lieut. General Ibnu Sutowo. He bosses the state-owned oil company, Pertamina, which supervises operations of the 41 foreign oil companies that annually pump some 290 million barrels of petroleum from Indonesia's rich fields. Already Suharto's anticorruption commission has closeted itself for hours with Sutowo, digging into his use of Pertamina funds to expand his own influence and wealth. "I am convinced I have done nothing wrong," insisted General Sutowo in an interview with TIME Correspondent Louis Kraar. "Everybody is talking about corruption, and if you asked them what they mean, they don't know."

He readily admits, however, that he uses some $500,000 a year of Pertamina's funds in a one-man aid program. In recent ventures, Sutowo has donated television stations, mosques, airports, dormitories and hotels to army posts and towns throughout Indonesia.

"I am an army man, and I am helping everybody a lot," says Sutowo.