Suspect Tommy visits Soeharto<\/p>\n
Yogita Tahilramani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Rich prison inmates here can enjoy not only drug deliveries or
\nconjugal visits, they can also walk out of jail for a night to
\nvisit family members, as was proven on Thursday by murder suspect
\nHutomo \"Tommy\" Mandala Putra, son of former president Soeharto.<\/p>\n
Tommy visited his ailing father on Thursday night after
\nsecuring permission within a day from the Central Jakarta
\nDistrict Court to leave jail. This kind of permission is highly
\nunlikely to be secured by a poor prisoner, who would want to
\nvisit his family members, particularly prisoners who are at
\nflight risk.<\/p>\n
Police arrested Tommy last November, ending his year of being
\nthe country's most wanted fugitive.<\/p>\n
Human rights groups slammed the visit by Tommy, saying it
\nshowed that the former first family still enjoyed privileges that
\nwould not be given to ordinary Indonesians.<\/p>\n
Tommy is being held in jail pending trial on charges of
\nmasterminding the murder of Supreme Court Justice Syafiuddin
\nKartasasmita, a judge who sent Tommy to jail over a corrupt land
\nswap deal.<\/p>\n
Tommy appeared to be handcuffed to a prison official as he was
\nescorted under extremely tight security into his father's
\nupmarket residence in Menteng, Central Jakarta, in a car driven
\nby Soeharto family lawyer Juan Felix Tampubolon. Tommy stayed for
\nabout two hours and left around Thursday midnight.<\/p>\n
According to one of Soeharto's daughters, Siti Hutami \"Mamiek\"
\nEndang Adiningsih, her father had had blood in his stools since
\nWednesday and was reportedly suffering from colon problems which
\nwere causing internal bleeding.<\/p>\n
Soeharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hardiyanti \"Tutut\" Rukmana
\nsaid on Friday that Tommy's visit not only cheered the 80-year-
\nold Soeharto, who later advised Tommy in Javanese to \"stay
\nreligious, patient and humble\".<\/p>\n
Tutut added that Soeharto was not aware of the murder charges
\nTommy was facing, and that he was only aware of the land swap
\ndeal which landed Tommy in jail. Tutut said that family members
\nfeared Soeharto's health would deteriorate further if he was told
\nthe truth.<\/p>\n
People visiting Soeharto included Army Gen. (ret) Wismoyo
\nArismunandar, academician Arif Rahman and retired Court judge
\nBismar Siregar.<\/p>\n
Soeharto led Indonesia out of chaos in the mid-1960s, but he
\nwas swept out of office in 1998 when the country was again in a
\nmess after being savaged by the Asian financial crisis.<\/p>\n
The former general has been charged with embezzling some
\nUS$571 million of state funds during his rule. Last Friday a
\njudge ruled that he was too ill for his corruption trial to
\nresume.<\/p>\n
He has been fitted with a pacemaker and has been treated at a
\nstate hospital at least three times for various ailments --
\nincluding a stroke and intestinal trouble -- since he resigned.<\/p>\n
He has also suffered respiratory and urinary complications and
\nunderwent an emergency appendectomy in February last year. In
\nDecember he was taken to hospital with pneumonia.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/suspect-tommy-visits-soeharto-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}