Same-old-same-old, where average Indonesians are concerned.
Either through economic plunder, corruption or by looking the other way when serious crimes were committed, Indonesian leaders have consistently disappointed the nation's populace.
Ask the average Indonesian if Suharto should be pardoned and you'll open yourself to a lengthy, impassioned tirade against the man. The people don't want Suharto to get off the hook. Locals ask: If neighboring democracies like the Philippines and South Korea can try former leaders, why can't Indonesia? The nation's dodgy legal system has spooked investors for years. Calls for reform hit a fever pitch in 1998, the end of Suharto's tenure. The IMF and World Bank, in extending loans to the nation, demanded that Jakarta overhaul its legal system to rid it of corruption and restore investor confidence. Little has changed.
Megawati's rise to the presidency was seen as a watershed event. The betting was that she could avoid the scandals and controversies that pushed Wahid, who also ran on an anti-corruption platform, from office. She pledged to vigorously tackle corruption in Indonesia's politics and courts.
The first indication Megawati was all talk, no action came in August when she avoided tapping reformers for key Cabinet positions like justice minister and attorney general. Her handling of the Supreme Court's action to overturn Tommy Suharto's conviction was an even bigger sign. Indications she may pardon former president Suharto may seal her fate.
Perhaps Megawati thinks clearing Suharto is in the country's best interest. One can't blame her for wanting to prevent disgraced former presidents from becoming the political norm in Indonesia. And for all his faults, many in Jakarta argue, Suharto did oversee an incredible surge in living standards.
But the cost to Jakarta's credibility would be greater than Megawati may appreciate. Internationally, pardoning Suharto would reek of politics-as-usual.
It was Jakarta's not-so-subtle nepotism that most irked foreign leaders and investors following the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Clearing a man suspected of embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars while close to 60 percent of his population wallows in poverty would validate those concerns.
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