Road to justice<\/p>\n
When power and privilege, and the abuse of both, have come as
\na birthright, it appears to be difficult to make the mental
\nadjustment to harsh reality. For Hutomo \"Tommy\" Mandala Putra,
\nson of disgraced former Indonesian president Suharto, the good
\ntimes are over.<\/p>\n
But his efforts to avoid paying for his excesses suggest some
\nproblem in recognizing that his charmed life ended with his
\nfather's downfall. Not even clemency is on the cards now.<\/p>\n
President Abdurrahman Wahid is proving to be tenacious in his
\ncrusade to bring the former leader to justice, even after a team
\nof 23 doctors testified that Suharto was too sick to face trial.
\n\"There will be other situations where we have to investigate the
\nparticipation of the former president,\" he said after the court
\ndismissed the case. Mr. Wahid made clear yesterday that he will
\nnot pardon the pampered son who profited hugely from his position
\nwithout performing any service for his country.<\/p>\n
Hutomo's father can at least claim to have brought benefits to
\nIndonesia in his early days in power, including modernizing the
\ncountry and invigorating the economy. Among the list of offenses
\nof which Hutomo stands accused, President Wahid has included the
\nSeptember bomb attack on the Jakarta stock exchange in which 15
\npeople lost their lives.<\/p>\n
Police failed to act on Mr. Wahid's instructions to arrest
\nHutomo in connection with the blast, claiming insufficient
\nevidence. But the atrocity is thought to have been carried out by
\npro-Suharto factions, angered by attempts to bring Suharto to
\ntrial, and Jakarta seems destined to violence by one faction or
\nanother whichever way the situation develops.<\/p>\n
Militant student groups have vowed to bring Mr. Wahid down
\nunless Suharto is indicted. But suggestions that jailing Hutomo
\non a HK$83.7 million land scam is a sop to public anger are
\nalmost certainly unfair. Beleaguered he may be, but Mr. Wahid has
\nshown himself determined to see justice done. His political
\nfuture could hinge on that. Only a thorough investigation into
\npast presidential misdeeds, plus efforts to recover billions
\nmilked from the state, will defuse social unrest, allowing
\nIndonesia to start healing its wounds under a fair and open
\nregime.<\/p>\n
-- The South China Morning Post, Hong Kong<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/road-to-justice-1447899208", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }