Jakarta – Prominent legal practitioners and observers expressed a degree of suspicion yesterday over the sudden dismissal of the attorney general and questioned the motive for making a military officer the country's top prosecutor.

Their views ranged from calls for an open explanation into the matter to suggestions that the move may have been linked to the Attorney General's Office investigation into corruption under former president Soeharto.

Bambang Widjojanto, chairman of the highly respected Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, speculated that it could be Soedjono C. Atmonegoro's "rather independent" nature which led to his dismissal. "There must be an open explanation from the President about his decision, although we know he had the right to do it... But we wonder why, was it because Soedjono's show of independence that he was replaced or was it because he was incapable of performing his duties," Bambang told The Jakarta Post.

President B.J. Habibie replaced Attorney General Soedjono C. Atmonegoro with the head of the Armed Forces prosecutor's office Maj. Gen. Muhammad Ghalib, on Monday. The dismissal occurred during the preliminary stages of the Attorney General's Office investigation into corruption during Soeharto's 32 years in office.

Minister/State Secretary Akbar Tandjung was, after announcing the decision, quick to dispel suggestions that it was related to the corruption probe. However the fact that Soedjono was replaced just three weeks after Habibie retained him in his new cabinet only served to fuel rumors. Soedjono was initially sworn in by then president Soeharto on March 19.

Soedjono appeared sanguine yesterday when ask by reporters about the move. He said he only learned of the decision when he was summoned by Habibie yesterday afternoon.

Bambang questioned the appointment of Ghalib, which he said broke a well-nurtured tradition of the office being led by career civilian attorneys.

"Whoever replaced Soedjono should have been a career civilian attorney," Bambang said while rhetorically asking if perhaps it was because there were no capable people left in the Attorney General's Office that a military man had to be appointed. "I'm worried that it is aimed at 'taming' the office," he remarked.

Lawyer Frank Taira Supit told The Post yesterday that the replacement indicates a sharp behind-the-scenes change of circumstances. "I think Soedjono was either acting too fast or too slow (in the corruption probe)," he remarked.

Political observer Arbi Sanit of the University of Indonesia maintained that the move to replace Soedjono with Ghalib was only a follow-up move from the military to protect Soeharto and his family. In light of calls for total reform, the latest move is a major setback, he told the Post.

Albert Hasibuan, a lawyer and member of the National Human Rights Commission regards the change as an abnormal event. "One possible reason could be Soedjono's probe into corruption, " he surmised. "What's important now is that what Soedjono has done should be continued by Ghalib."

[Soedjono has denied he resigned over the issue of investigating Suharto's wealth telling Kompas on June 17 that the transfer was "normal". A report by SiaR on June 16 however, said that according to their sources, he was removed by the military to protect Suharto. The source said the military were also displeased with the release of political prisoners. According to a June 18 report by AFP, after being sworn in, Ghalib said he would keep a 35-member investigative team appointed by Sujono press on with the probe into Suharto wealth - James Balowski.]