Supreme Court under fire over Tommy ruling<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court's decision to overrule Hutomo \"Tommy\"
\nMandala Putra's conviction and 18-month jail sentence betrays the
\npublic's sense of justice, legal observers said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The court's decision is a calamity for the effort to uphold
\nthe law and will set a bad precedent for law enforcement,
\naccording to Hendardi, chairman of the Legal Aid and Human Rights
\nAssociation.<\/p>\n
\"This decision will only erode the public's already wafer-thin
\ntrust in the justice system,\" Hendardi told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Former minister of justice and human rights Mahfud MD
\nconcurred and said that the court's decision hurt the people's
\nsense of justice.<\/p>\n
\"The Supreme Court's decision is against and nullifies the
\npeople's sense of justice,\" Mahfud, a legal expert from the
\nYogyakarta Islamic University, said in Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
He contended that the court had sought only loopholes and not
\njustice in the Tommy case.<\/p>\n
\"Therefore, the orientation of our legal system must be
\nchanged from concentrating on formal procedural grounds to
\nupholding justice so that legal, procedural matters become
\nsecondary to the serving of justice,\" Mahfud told Antara.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Vice President Hamzah Haz called on the people to
\nrespect the Supreme Court's decision on Tommy.<\/p>\n
\"We have to respect the decision of that institution,\" he said
\nafter opening a meeting of West Kalimantan businessmen in
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
When asked about the people's feeling of justice, Hamzah said,
\n\"Don't talk about feelings of justice. We have to respect the
\ndecision of the Supreme Court.\"<\/p>\n
He noted that if the justices were wrong in their decision
\nabout Tommy, they would be held responsible by God in the
\n\"hereafter.\"<\/p>\n
Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra
\nconfirmed that the government would respect the Supreme Court
\ndecision, saying that the government could not interfere in the
\ncase.<\/p>\n
\"As the government, we have to respect the court's decision.
\nMoreover, it has been handed down by the highest judicial
\ninstitution,\" he said.<\/p>\n
According to Hendardi, the Supreme Court had made two
\nfundamental errors in freeing Tommy.<\/p>\n
The first mistake, said Hendardi, was that the court had
\ndisregarded the fact that Tommy had admitted his guilt by seeking
\na presidential pardon. Thus, the review of the case was a mistake
\nfrom the outset.<\/p>\n
\"The Supreme Court cannot review a case where the convicted
\nparty has admitted his guilt,\" Hendardi told The Jakarta Post in
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
The second mistake was that the Supreme Court had declared
\ninnocent a fugitive who had flouted the ruling of the court.<\/p>\n
\"The implications of this case will encourage prisoners to run
\naway from jail while their lawyers seek a review of their cases.\"<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court in September 2000 sentenced Tommy to an 18-
\nmonth jail term over an US$11 million land scam in 1995 involving
\nhis supermarket chain Goro Batara Sakti and the State Logistics
\nAgency (Bulog).<\/p>\n
Then president Abdurrahman in October 2000 rejected Tommy's
\nrequest for a pardon. A month later, Tommy went on the run.<\/p>\n
Tommy's lawyers then filed for a review of the Supreme Court
\ndecision, and on Monday the court overturned Tommy's conviction.<\/p>\n
Hendardi suspected that there were political motives behind
\nthe decision.<\/p>\n
\"We know that there is a huge backlog of cases which should be
\nresolved by the court. Why should it have proceeded with a case
\nthat actually should not even have been heard?,\" he added.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/supreme-court-under-fire-over-tommy-ruling-1447893297",
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