Comedy of errors<\/p>\n
Three weeks after the dramatic disappearance of Hutomo "Tommy"
\nMandala Putra, former president Soeharto's youngest son who was
\nsentenced to 18 months in prison for corruption, the hope that
\npolice will be able to track him down any time soon and that the
\nprinciple of equality before the law will be upheld appears to be
\ndimming rather than increasing by the day.<\/p>\n
Indeed, as the time continues to fly by and the police, to all
\nappearances, go all out to find the fugitive billionaire
\nfelon, the case appears to be gradually assuming all the
\ncharacteristics of a good comedy, rather than a drama or mystery.<\/p>\n
One could, of course, question the use at this point of noting
\nthat all of this could have been avoided had the authorities
\ntreated Tommy from the beginning not as a privileged super-rich
\nand powerful business tycoon, but rather as an ordinary citizen
\nwho had been found guilty of a crime and sentenced accordingly by
\na court of justice.<\/p>\n
It must nevertheless be remembered that the longer the case is
\nleft dangling with no hope of a solution in sight, the more the
\ngovernment of President Abdurrahman Wahid stands to lose its
\nalready tattered credibility and the more the nation is faced
\nwith the bleak prospect of having to live with a never-ending
\ncrisis.<\/p>\n
As may be recalled, Tommy was formally pronounced a suspect by
\nthe South Jakarta District Court on Feb. 2, 1999, together with
\nBeddu Amang, the former head of the State Logistics Agency
\n(Bulog), and businessman Ricardo Gelael, and the case opened two
\ndays later.<\/p>\n
Beddu Amang was acquitted on a technicality and his case has
\nnot been heard of since. Tommy and Ricardo were also exonerated
\nfor lack of evidence, but the prosecutor, Fachmi, appealed and a
\nSupreme Court panel chaired by M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita
\nreversed the decision.<\/p>\n
Ricardo filed for a presidential pardon, which was however
\nrefused. He accepted the decision as calmly as can be expected
\nfrom a man finding himself in such a situation. Tommy, however,
\nproved to be a much harder nut to crack.<\/p>\n
Not content with just filing a plea for a pardon with the
\nPresident, Tommy at the same time appealed for a judicial review
\nof his case. Both petitions were rejected and so, one might at
\nleast expect, the way was open for the judicial authorities to
\narrest him -- irrespective, of course, of his position in the
\ncommunity.<\/p>\n
Instead, the public has been a witness to a series of events
\nthat would have been comically absurd, were it not for the
\nimplications that are involved.<\/p>\n
Tommy arranged to meet President Abdurrahman Wahid at the
\nBorobudur Hotel in Jakarta -- in private, if not in secret.
\nWhether media reports that more meetings took place subsequently
\nare true is something that must await official confirmation. Even
\nso, any delay in confirming or denying such reports will only
\nserve to damage the President's credibility even more.<\/p>\n
Given the way the public's mind works, such mysterious doings
\ncan only further feed the public's suspicion that something fishy
\nis going on and that some kind of secret deal is probably being
\nhammered out for Tommy's benefit. How else can one explain the
\nodd fact that the state's intelligence apparatus -- always so
\nquick in the past to uncover plots and arrest dissidents -- has
\nbeen proven helpless in tracking down a mere Tommy Soeharto?<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the police have been making a big show of
\nquestioning Tommy's family and combing the city to find the
\nfugitive. Having apparently failed to find Tommy in the homes of
\nthe "Cendana (Soeharto's) Family", police are widening the scope
\nof their hunt to include the homes of his ex-girlfriend, former
\nactress Maya Rumantir, and even that of his in-laws.<\/p>\n
What the authorities will come up with next is anybody's
\nguess. Our own guess is that the public will have to endure some
\nmore of the same for at least a few more days until one of the
\ntwo sides in the current game of cat and mouse gives up. In the
\nmeantime, it is the public which must pay the price for the
\npolice's bungling performance in this affair.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/comedy-of-errors-1447893297",
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