Indonesian justice back in dock over Suharto case

JAKARTA, Oct 31: The early release from jail of the son of former Indonesian President Suharto has thrown the spotlight on what critics say is a justice system still capable of being manipulated by the rich and powerful.

Hutomo ''Tommy'' Mandala Putra, the youngest son of the former strongman, was sentenced to 15 years for paying a hitman to kill the judge and other offences, but that was reduced to 10 years on appeal and further sliced by a series of holiday ''remissions''.

A smiling and waving Tommy left jail yesterday amid a scrum of journalists. In all, the 44-year-old served five years over the murder of the judge who had convicted him in a graft case.

''The conditional release of Tommy Suharto has ruffled our sense of justice,'' read an editorial in the Koran Tempo.

The newspaper urged Justice Minister Hamid Awaluddin to explain to the public the factors behind Tommy's early release to dispel suspicions he enjoyed special privileges.

''The president should revise the presidential decree on remission and tighten conditions for remissions. Otherwise inmates with money will find ways to get remissions to make their time in prison much shorter.'' Explaining the decision, Vice President Jusuf Kalla told reporters yesterday that under the law it had been right to release Tommy since he had served two-thirds of his sentence.

However, not all prisoners who serve two-thirds of their terms are released, and the country's justice minister was quoted as saying public attitudes could be considered.

Tommy's original sentence of 15 years had already been criticised by some as too lenient and showing Indonesian justice had one standard for the powerful and another for the weak.

Prison and other government officials have said the courts acted independently in Tommy's case and his sentence remissions were similar to those granted others.

CONTROVERSIAL COURTS

Indonesian justice has often been subject to criticism. In one controversial decision earlier this month, a three-member Supreme Court panel overturned a guilty verdict on an off-duty pilot convicted of murdering leading human rights activist, Munir Thalib, in 2004.

Rights groups say the pilot had ties to influential figures and authorities have dragged their feet investigating the case.

Washington has urged Jakarta not to let that case slide.

Eluding to Tommy's playboy reputation, a cartoon in the Investor Daily pictured three beautiful women welcoming home a beaming Tommy, sporting his trade-mark moustache, now shaved off.

''Even though he is just out of jail Tommy is still a prince,'' said one character.

But another warned: ''Don't be happy just yet, other charges will follow.'' Tommy's father ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for more than three decades before stepping down in 1998, and several members of his family, including Tommy, became rich.

Prosecutors had probed Tommy's role in the Timor national car project of the mid-1990s, which got special tax privileges and incurred the wrath of the international financial community which complained it flouted trade agreements. Elza Syarief, Tommy's lawyer, said her client did not face any more pending legal cases.

She said he planned to perform a haj pilgrimage, as well as spend time with his father and taking care of his businesses.

Arbi Sanit, a political analyst at the University of Indonesia, said Tommy's case could be damage the reputation of President Susilo Bambany Yudhoyono's administration.

''It gives the impression that the SBY government is giving special treatment to Suharto's family. This sends a wrong signal to people outside Indonesia, giving the impression that laws can be bent at will.'' Officials deny there was favouritism, and Kalla suggested yesterday it would have been discrimination not to release Tommy.

Reuters