Soeharto fails to attend his trial<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Medical reports on former president Soeharto
\nconvinced judges of the South Jakarta District Court to adjourn
\nhis trial on charges of corruption until Sept. 14.<\/p>\n
Soeharto's lawyers had repeatedly claimed that their client
\nwas unfit to attend the initial hearing on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\"The judges need to hear testimonies of the defendant's
\nprivate medical team and the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital
\nteam which examined the defendant,\" presiding judge Lalu Mariyun
\ntold the court in the Ministry of Agriculture's auditorium in
\nPasar Minggu, South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"The doctors must give the next hearing a detailed
\ndescription, using layman's terms, about the illnesses suffered
\nby the defendant. The trial is adjourned until Sept. 14.\"<\/p>\n
To the dismay of hundreds of locals, the defendant's absence
\non Thursday was followed by the handing over of medical reports
\non his condition to the court.<\/p>\n
Defense lawyer Juan Felix Tampubolon said his 79-year-old
\nclient, who has suffered three strokes in the past, had a
\ndeplorable health bill.<\/p>\n
\"He could suffer a fourth stroke, due to reasons ranging from
\nage, hypertension, heart problems, kidney failure, kidney stones
\nto diabetes, and other illnesses,\" Juan told the hearing, quoting
\nofficial medical report No. 03\/TDHMS\/VIII\/2000.<\/p>\n
The report was issued by Soeharto's private medical team and
\nsigned on Thursday by the team's chief, Teguh A.S. Ranakusuma.<\/p>\n
In response, head of the eight-member team of prosecutors,
\nMuchtar Arifin, demanded that the judges pick an independent team
\nof doctors to reexamine the defendant as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
Another of the defendant's lawyers, Muhammad Assegaf, however
\nresponded that the Attorney General's Office had appointed a team
\nof independent doctors in March from Cipto Mangunkusumo General
\nHospital, which had stated that the former president \"was
\nsuffering from both physical and mental illnesses\".<\/p>\n
Juan added that the judges should instead call upon the
\nmedical teams that examined the defendant to find out the extent
\nof the defendant's ill health.<\/p>\n
The judges accepted the defense lawyers' plea.<\/p>\n
After the hearing, Assegaf told reporters that he was sure
\nSoeharto would not attend Sept. 14 hearing, since the court had
\ndecided to hear testimonies of only the medical teams.<\/p>\n
Assegaf added that if Muchtar was desperate enough to pursue
\nwith the corruption charges without the defendant's presence in
\ncourt, he could request the Supreme Court to issue a fatwa
\n(decree) that would allow the South Jakarta District Court to go
\nahead with the trial in the defendant's absence.<\/p>\n
The courtroom was filled with hundreds of locals from Lampung,
\nEast and Central Java who spent hours traveling to the capital by
\ntrain to attend the trial. Also present were former judge and law
\nexpert Benjamin Mangkoedilaga, National Mandate Party (PAN)
\ndeputy chairman AM Fatwa and politician Sri Bintang Pamungkas,
\nwho spent one year in jail for insulting Soeharto in 1997.<\/p>\n
Muhammad Nurdin Yohan, 47, a impoverished trader from Cipete,
\nSouth Jakarta, said he wished one particular question could be
\nasked of the defendant.<\/p>\n
\"In Soeharto's time, he spoke of the supremacy of the law.
\nToday, he is finding reasons not to appear in court. Where is the
\nsupremacy of the law now?\" Yohan asked.<\/p>\n
Achmad Saiful, 62, a carpenter from Lampung, said all he
\nwanted was to watch the law in Indonesia work for members of the
\npublic.<\/p>\n
A 60-year-old woman, who refused to give her name, said that
\npeople should forgive Soeharto.<\/p>\n
\"He used to give so many donations to the place I worked at.
\nHe is a good man. Why should we disturb him?\"<\/p>\n
A different tune was aired by students who reacted angrily to
\nSoeharto's failure to show up for the initial hearing.<\/p>\n
\"This is nonsense ... it's a sinetron (teleseries),\" yelled
\none student, to the cheers of 200 protesters who had gathered
\noutside the iron gates of the ministry building.<\/p>\n
Signals of Soeharto's failure to attend the initial hearing
\nwere evident on Thursday morning when Juan remained silent after
\nbeing asked about Soeharto's attendance at the former president's
\nresidence on Jl. Cendana in Central Jakarta prior to his
\ndeparture, along with Soeharto's other lawyers, to the trial
\nvenue at 8:30 a.m.<\/p>\n
Contacted by phone, another defense lawyer, Denny Kailimang
\neventually admitted that doctors had declared Soeharto unfit for
\nthe trial. He did not elaborate.<\/p>\n
Soeharto's absence at the initial hearing was denounced by
\nPeople's Consultative Assembly (MPR) deputy speaker Matori Abdul
\nDjalil.<\/p>\n
\"Soeharto's lawyers likely used the medical report as a tool
\nto avoid the trial. People may assume that the report was
\nconcocted,\" Matori, also chairman of the National Awakening Party
\n(PKB), said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Similarly, House of Representatives (DPR) deputy speaker A.M.
\nFatwa said Soeharto's medical report could have been contrived to
\navoid trial.<\/p>\n
\"Soeharto should first be presented in court. It's the court
\nthat should decide whether he is ill or not,\" Fatwa, also deputy
\nchairman of the National Mandate Party, said.<\/p>\n
He cited his personal experience in 1984 when he was tried on
\ncharges of subversion during the Soeharto regime.<\/p>\n
\"I did not eat for three days to make me unfit for the trial,
\nwhich I believed was an engineered one,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"But I was forcibly taken to the court for alleged involvement
\nin the Tanjung Priok tragedy.\"<\/p>\n
Attorney General Marzuki Darusman, however, said it was common
\nfor a defendant not to appear in court for the initial hearing.<\/p>\n
\"It's natural,\" Marzuki said before attending a Cabinet
\nmeeting at Bina Graha presidential office on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Outside the venue several groups of student protesters staged
\nanti-Soeharto rallies.<\/p>\n
A minor incident took place when a woman in her 40s challenged
\nthe anti-Soeharto protesters to give a fair judgment on the
\nformer president, who she said should be respected for his
\nservices to the state during his 32-year reign.<\/p>\n
Dozens of men surrounded the woman, slapped her face, called
\nher names and threw dirt and mud at her.<\/p>\n
Policemen came to the rescue of the woman, who was identified
\nas Rosmawati Tanjung, and escorted her to an armored vehicle
\nwhich was about to leave the scene. (ylt\/bby\/jun)<\/p>",
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