Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – As the country's longest serving former president lay in hospital over the weekend his loyalists appealed for all charges against him to be dropped.
After a Golkar meeting on Saturday, party chairman Agung Laksono asked the government to end the legal process against 86-year-old Soeharto.
"As stipulated in Article 35 in the law on the Attorney General's Office, this can be done by the attorney general," Agung was quoted by Antara newswire as saying on Sunday.
The law states that the Attorney General's Office can drop a case "for the sake of the public good."
Separately, Golkar Party executive Theo L. Sambuaga said that the request would only be applied to cases against Soeharto, not his children or his trustees.
The former five-star general was allegedly involved in a corruption case related to his foundation Supersemar. The Attorney General's Office dropped charges against him in early 2006 due to his ailing physical state and old age.
However the civil case continues, seeking to recoup US$240 million and Rp 185.9 billion in state monies allegedly misused by his foundation.
Meanwhile Soeharto's doctors said Friday he was recovering. Soeharto was rushed to Pertamina Hospital on Friday after suffering from anemia and a severe edema. Hospital director Djoko Sanjoto said Sunday that excess fluids in his body, especially in the lungs, has been reduced.
Reports said Soeharto received several visitors, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Constitutional Court Chief Justice Jimly Asshiddiqie. Visitors said Soeharto was able to smile and shake their hands.
Separately former president Abdurrahman Wahid, a pro-democracy activist when Soeharto was in power, said that the legal process against Soeharto should continue. "If the court has made a decision it is up to us whether to forgive him or not, but the process should be continued," he said after visiting Soeharto at the hospital.
Deputy chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly AM Fatwa, who was also among the visitors, also said the case against Soeharto should go on.
"I have forgiven him, I have no grudges," said Fatwa, a political detainee under Soeharto's regime. However the legal process should continue, he added, as quoted by Antara, "as it is part of the reform commitment."
In December, the National Commission on Human Rights said it was examining six major cases of human rights violations under Soeharto's regime.
Those cases were related to the political upheaval in the mid-1960s, the prolonged imprisonment of political detainees on Buru Island, the mysterious shootings of criminals in the 1980s, the armed conflicts in Aceh and Papua, the 1967 killings of Chinese Indonesians in West Kalimantan and the 1996 attack on the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle.