Suharto’s high-level crony

According to his official Clinton White House intelligence report,
Indonesian President B.J. Habibie is “the type of official needed today
in developing countries.”

The recently declassified documents show that in 1993 Habibie
requested to see “Vice President Gore, Secretary of State Christopher,
Secretary of Energy O’Leary, National Economic Council Chairman Rubin
and the White House Director of Science Technology Policy Gibbons.”

The reports are part of a series of documents obtained from the U.S.
Commerce Department using the Freedom of Information Act.

The documents include allegations that Clinton officials knew of
“corruption, collusion and nepotism” inside U.S.-funded projects for
Indonesia. The documents show that U.S. taxpayer dollars
were used to bribe relatives of former President Suharto and help
“crony” officials to obtain contracts.

The newly declassified intelligence reports include full details on
Habibie’s life before he took over Indonesia as Suharto’s handpicked
successor. The documents were included in a 1993 briefing package given
to Mission Energy Corp.

Habibie’s intelligence report reveals that he worked as an engineer
in Germany for Messerschmitt, and as Indonesian technology minister,
wanted to produce “7,000 megawatts of commercial nuclear power by the
early 21st century.”

Furthermore, the intelligence report noted that “A brother, Jusuf
Effendy (J.E.) Habibie, heads the Communications Ministry’s directorate
general for sea communications.”

Habibie’s report is identical in format to the official Clinton White
House reports on the entire communist Chinese leadership which were
provided by an unspecified “intelligence agency.” In
order to obtain the intelligence reports, the Commerce Department had to
be dragged into Federal Court for illegally withholding the documents.

The intelligence reports were given by the Clinton White House to
corporate heads who accompanied Ron Brown on trade missions to the Far
East. The CEOs who received the intelligence reports included DNC donors
such as Loral CEO Bernard Schwartz, Hughes CEO Michael Armstrong,
investment banker Sanford Robertson and Mission Energy CEO John Bryson.

According to the official U.S. intelligence report, B.J. Habibie was
picked by Suharto to be president and director of the “Indonesian
Aircraft Industry, a position he still holds.”

Habibie also headed Suharto’s “Agency for Strategic Industries,”
placing him in charge of “10 state-owned industrial firms,” including
state owned PT Telkon, Indonesia’s satellite TV system.

In 1994 the U.S. and France were competing to orbit the Indonesian
Palapa C TV satellite. A previously released, Nov. 1, 1994, Commerce
Department report accuses France of bribing the Suharto government in
the fierce trade war over satellite launches for Indonesia.

The Commerce document noted, “There are also allegations that the
French have paid ‘incentive money’ to the Indonesians, but this cannot
be confirmed.”

A newly released Commerce document states, “General Dynamics is
bidding to provide launch services for the new Palapa C satellite. The
package to build and launch the third generation satellite is worth $300
million.”

The document continues by noting, “The French Government in an effort
to break a 20 year American monopoly on Indonesian launches, has been
quite open in the support for the Arianespace launch program. Last month
several high level French Government officials called on GOI (Government
of Indonesia) officials to press their case.”

The document, a 1993 briefing memo for a Commerce Department meeting
with Indonesian advisor William Hollinger, includes allegations the
French were also attempting to bribe the Suharto regime.

Suharto, however, had other ideas for the satellite.

According to the Commerce document, “Hughes and General Electric both
submitted bids. … Hughes now appears to have the edge, but is
dependent upon an earlier EXIM financing commitment, which was given
while the satellite was solely owned by the GOI. In the past month the
project was spun off into a new public/private venture.”

The Palapa C deal concerned the Clinton administration since Michael
Armstrong, Hughes CEO, was close to President Clinton and donated money
to the DNC.

“The General Dynamics Atlas launch vehicle appears to have the
technical and cost edge over Ariane,” states the memo. “But the
Europeans hope to gain the advantage through political pressure,
‘freebies’ and financing.”

The Clinton administration knew of the French “freebies” and
“incentive money.” Furthermore, it also knew about Suharto’s real plan
for the Palapa C satellite: “We may have trouble coming up with a
better financing offer through EXIM since the State owned PT Telkon has
just transferred the satellite business to a new public/private joint
venture, PT Satelindo. The majority private interest in Satelindo is
controlled by Bimantara, a ‘first family firm.'”

In 1993, Habibie transferred control from the Indonesian government
to the new “private” venture. “Private,” of course, meant privately
owned by Suharto and his “first family.” Thus, the Indonesian dictator
stole the satellite.

Yet, Clinton officials did not stand idly by while Suharto raided the
space-based assets of his impoverished nation. The Clinton/Gore
administration reacted quickly to the allegations that the French were
bribing Suharto by upping the ante with U.S. taxpayer money and a letter
backing the deal from Commerce Secretary Ron Brown.

“Commerce strongly endorses the application,” states the 1993 memo.
“And at the request of the Indonesia desk, IEP and TD/Aerospace are
drafting a Secretarial letter of support for General Dynamics.
Underscore USG interest in General Dynamics winning the rights to build
and launch Indonesia’s Palapa C satellite.”

In the end, Clinton got the donations from Hughes CEO Armstrong,
while the governments of Indonesia, France and the United States grew a
little more corrupt and Suharto got his satellite, complete with CNN and
pay-per-view TV.

Of course, one would think the Clinton/Gore connection to Habibie and
Suharto should make the news. However, you will not see this story on
CNN nor read about it in Time magazine — and the reason for such poor
news coverage may surprise you.

According to a recently discovered letter from the personal files of
Ron Brown, Time-Warner sought and obtained Brown’s help in an exclusive
“recording” deal with Indonesia.

In 1995, Ron Brown wrote in a letter to Hartarto Sastrosurarto,
Indonesian minister for trade and industry: “we would welcome the
conclusion of the negotiations on phase II of the auxiliary
dredging equipment project with Ellicott Machine Corporation and on Time
Warner’s investment in Indonesia’s recording sector.”

Clearly, CNN reporting the truth might affect Ted Turner’s bottom
line more than his politics. It is no surprise that CNN has picked up
the White House spin, portraying Habibie, a powerful Suharto “crony,” as
an innocent bystander in the East Timor genocide.

Much has been said recently about “the truth” from Clinton officials.
The truth is Suharto still rules Indonesia through his surrogate Habibie
and the slaughter continues in East Timor. The truth is that Clinton
quietly considers Habibie to be “the type of official needed today in
developing countries.” The truth about Bill Clinton is an ugly story of
“corruption, collusion and nepotism.”

Source documents