Ask Gus Dur about Tommy: Titiek

Ask Gus Dur about Tommy: Titiek

JAKARTA (JP): Siti Hediati Hariyadi "Titiek" Prabowo became
the latest child of former president Soeharto to have been
grilled by the police over the whereabouts of her fugitive
sibling Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra on Friday.

After the questioning, Titiek fought back, saying it was time
the police asked President Abdurrahman Wahid about Tommy's
disappearance.

"Don't just question our family (about Tommy's whereabouts).
Gus Dur should be questioned too since he was the last person to
speak (with Tommy)," Titiek said, referring to the President by
his nickname.

Tommy's five siblings all claim to have no knowledge about his
whereabouts.

Titiek, who spoke to reporters after being questioned for
about six hours at the National Police Headquarters, declined to
elaborate on her statement and rushed to her car and left.

According to Titiek's lawyer, Juan Felix Tampubolon, the
fourth child of the former ruler was referring to a private
meeting between Gus Dur and Tommy.

Gus Dur has acknowledged a secret meeting between him and
Tommy took place at the star-rated Borobudur Hotel, Central
Jakarta, in October.

However, Gus Dur dismissed speculation that he had made any
deal to review the 18-month jail sentence handed down to Tommy,
who was convicted in a Rp 76.7 billion corruption case in a land
exchange deal with the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

Many suspect that the meeting with Tommy was part of an
arrangement the government made in an effort to secure the return
of alleged ill-gotten wealth reportedly amassed by Soeharto's
family during his 32 years in power.

Tommy has been on the run since Nov. 3, the day after Gus Dur
refused to grant him a presidential pardon.

In their efforts to find the most wanted man in the country,
the police have searched several houses of the Soeharto family's
relatives and close associates across the country.

Businessman Setiawan Djody, whose house was searched by the
police on Wednesday, said on Friday the search was futile because
it was unlikely he would harbor Tommy since the Soeharto family
had caused him great losses in the past.

Setiawan expressed suspicion that the search at his house was
a ploy by a certain group to tarnish Gus Dur's image since he was
a close friend of the President.

"Some party who doesn't like Gus Dur might have used our
closeness to malign him with the search," Setiawan told a media
conference at his house.

The police's painstaking efforts to find Tommy took National
Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro to multimedia and
telecommunications expert Roy Suryo.

Speaking in Yogyakarta, the hometown of Roy, Bimantoro said
the multimedia expert was currently in Jakarta. The police are
using Roy's services to trace all cell-phone calls made by Tommy,
using a radio base station.

Meanwhile, Jakarta Police Insp. Gen. Mulyono Sulaiman denied
an earlier report saying that the police had seized Tommy's
getaway car. He said the police had only recorded the plate
number of the car.

"It is Tommy that we are looking for, not his car. We found
his car in his mother-in-law's house and we recorded that. No, we
did not confiscate it because we are looking for Tommy and we
will continue the search," Mulyono told reporters at a ceremony
at the National Monument (Monas), Central Jakarta, to mark the
deployment of security personnel in the city during Ramadhan.

Separately, the South Jakarta District Court clerical chief
for criminal cases M. Yusuf said Tommy's appeal was being held up
because one of the three presiding judges was sick and could not
sign the report.

Attorney General Marzuki Darusman, meanwhile, revealed that
President Abdurrahman had ordered the military to give the police
access to military installations in their search for Tommy.

"So, if Tommy is suspected of hiding in one of the military
installations -- as believed by many people -- the police have
the right to search there," he said after installing Soeparman as
deputy attorney for career development affairs.

Marzuki also admitted the police were being obstructed in the
search by people loyal to Soeharto.

"Those people have enabled Tommy to elude prison. He could not
have escaped without somebody's help," he said. (jaw/dja/bby/01)