Outrage over apex court verdict on Tommy Suharto

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE, OCT. 5. Acquitting a fugitive is rare. But the Indonesian Supreme Court did just that when it revoked the conviction of Mr. Tommy Suharto, youngest son of the former Indonesian dictator, Gen. Suharto.

The October 1 decision of the Supreme Court came in the form of a judicial review. The court, which had earlier convicted Mr. Suharto on corruption charges, now says that he was wrongly convicted by other judges of Indonesia's highest judicial seat. There has been a public outcry against the judgment and the Attorney-General, Mr. M. A. Rachman, said in Jakarta that they would file ``another review'' in the Supreme Court. However, other legal experts believe that it is not possible for another review petition to be filed against the October 1 verdict.

Mr. Rachman said even if the corruption case was closed the Government would pursue other related charges, including the assassination of a Supreme Court judge, Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who had sentenced Mr. Suharto to an 18-month jail term. ``The verdict that overturned his conviction will not wipe out the allegations against him in other cases. For as long as he does not provide clarification about his involvement, we will continue to investigate his role in other cases,'' Mr. Rachman said.

As the Government goes about ``showing'' that it is doing something about the ``shock'' verdict, commentators have even faulted the appointment of Mr. Rachman as the Attorney-General. They have gone on record to say that Mr. Rachman was not the right man for the job and criticised the President, Ms. Megawati Sukarnoputri, for appointing him. In an editorial, Jakarta Post said the Supreme Court's decision had ``exposed the idiosyncrasies of the Indonesian legal system once again''.

``As we can recall, it was the Supreme Court that in September last year reversed the lower court's earlier decision to drop all corruption cases against Tommy. The Supreme Court then sentenced Tommy to 18 months imprisonment for his role in a $11 million land scam...

''We can also recall that it was the very same Supreme Court that a month later recommended to the then President Abdurrahman Wahid to turn down Tommy's request for a pardon. The very act of seeking a Presidential pardon in itself is an admission of guilt, and presumably the very last avenue for a legal reprieve,`` the paper said.

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Section  : International
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