Verdict triggers street clashes

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE, SEPT. 28. The Jakarta court that on Thursday dismissed the corruption case against the former President, Gen. Suharto, involving the alleged embezzlement of $ 570 millions, was in fact scheduled to decide only whether or not the accused was medically fit to stand trial. The court, however, threw out the case in a surprise verdict.

Political analysts in Jakarta were quick to point out that a new problem had arisen for the President, Mr. Abdurrahman Wahid, and his Government. There appears to be little doubt that the reformist students, who have already taken to the streets, will unleash all their forces against the court verdict.

``The panel of judges rules that the case of H.M. (Haji Mohammad) Suharto cannot be accepted and frees defendant H.M. Suharto from his city arrest and returns the dossier of the case in the name of defendant H.M. Suharto to the prosecutors,'' the presiding judge, Mr. Lalu Mariyun, said in his ruling.

The decision came after an ``independent'' team of doctors announced that Gen. Suharto was ``permanently'' unfit to stand trial.

``The entire clinical psychiatric and psychogeriatric findings show that H.M. Suharto is mentally unfit for trial... seen from the physical or mental aspects, he (Suharto) is pronounced in an unfit condition to be tried and this unfit for trial condition is of a permanent nature,'' a doctor who examined him, said.

The court verdict, which sparked protests on the streets, also drew adverse comments from analysts. ``A new conflict may be seen in Indonesia. The reforming students and ordinary people are very unhappy,'' Mr. Arbi Sanit, who teaches at the University of Indonesia, told this correspondent from Jakarta.

Stating that there could be a link between the Supreme Court order sentencing Mr. Tommy Suharto, the former President's son, and today's verdict, Mr. Sanit said the court had shown it was only ``concerned with Suharto's rights, not those of the Indonesian people''. It appeared that the medical opinion given today was tailor-made to permit the release of Gen. Suharto, who was forced by agitating students to quit office in May 1998 in the midst of the South-East Asian economic crisis.

Democratic elements in the Indonesian society have long argued that sick or not, Gen. Suharto must be forced to stand trial. Whether such an opinion is valid or not is quite another matter; but those who have suffered at the hands of the former dictator are unlikely to be satisfied with anything else.

The verdict is also likely to have major ramifications for the Wahid Government. The reformists want Gen. Suharto and the rest of the one-time ``first family'' brought to justice for corruption and human rights violations.

That the trial of Gen. Suharto was a ``sensitive'' matter for the Government was clear from the start. Mr. Wahid had gone as far as to say that if the former President was convicted, he would immediately pardon him. The Jakarta court, however, has ensured that Mr. Wahid will not need to exercise himself in extending the pardon.

The court ruling is also likely to hamper any further legal action against Gen. Suharto as the doctors have ruled that he is ``permanently'' unfit to stand trial. However, reformist elements are likely to mount as much pressure as they can on the Government to initiate further proceedings against Gen. Suharto.

It is to be seen whether the bomb attacks that have taken place on key days in the Suharto trial (including the one at the office of a human rights organisation in Jakarta yesterday) will now come to a halt.

Any suggestion that a grand compromise has been arrived at with the erstwhile ``first family'' is also likely to create problems in the weeks and months ahead.

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Section  : International
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