Indonesia's opportunity

Indonesia's opportunity

The Straits Times, Asia News Network, Singapore

The skepticism that has greeted the arrest on Wednesday of Indonesia's most-wanted fugitive, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, after a year-long hunt, shows that Indonesia has a long way to go before it breaks free of its past.

In that past, powerful people enjoyed virtual immunity from the law, and the 39-year-old son of former president Soeharto was certainly among the most powerful of those people. He fled last year after being sentenced to 18 months' jail over a graft charge, which was later overturned by the Supreme Court. Some Indonesians see his arrest this week as a staged attempt to improve the stock of the police force, which had been criticized for repeated failures to locate him.

The police say his capture was genuine. They can be given the benefit of the doubt. However, it was astonishing that Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. Sofjan Jacoeb should have thought it fitting to embrace the prisoner and smile and laugh at their meeting. Fugitives from the law are not expected to be treated this way.

Skeptical Indonesians do not think that Tommy's belated capture will lead to his facing trial on charges of murder, weapons possession, bombing and fleeing from the law. A legislator remarked cynically that the arrest was merely his window for re-entering society as a free person.

Should that happen, it would be a sad day for Indonesia. Not only is the rule of law necessary to sustain a people's faith in the political system, but it also sustains the faith of foreign investors and others in a country's economic system. Indonesian political leaders recognize this connection, with ministers saying that the arrest proves that the country is serious about reforming its justice system.

What remains is for law-enforcers to make certain that the law takes its course. It is significant that the Attorney-General's Office has filed an appeal to the Supreme Court to annul its decision overturning Tommy's verdict, arguing that it was unlawful because he was absent when the ruling was made. The point is not whether this particular argument is correct or not. That is for the court to decide.

The law must take its course without giving the public any reason to believe that powerful people, working behind the scenes, can use their influence to block it. Tommy is suspected of being involved in several cases, including illegal arms possession and the murder of a top judge.

Suspicions as serious as these deserve to be pursued with the full vigor of the law. There should be no scope for people to be cynical about any aspect of the investigations and the steps that are taken as a result of them.

Now, the popular interest in Tommy should not descend into an unhealthy obsession with the past. Indonesia will suffer if that is to be the case because the obsession will distract it. But the knowledge that justice does prevail will not only be a salve for what it has endured, but also be a source of hope that the reforms which its leaders are trying to make will lead the country to a better future. What a resolution of the Tommy affair should mean is that power is no protection from the law.

Underlining that truth will do Indonesia a great deal of good, particularly in an international situation where well-wishers want to see the rule of law prevail and guide Indonesia towards a brighter future.