Judge who sentenced Tommy to prison gunned down

JAKARTA (JP): Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who sentenced former president Soeharto's son and golfing buddy to jail for corruption, was shot dead on Thursday morning while driving to work at the Supreme Court.

Eyewitnesses said they saw four men on two motorcycles forcing Syafiuddin to stop his Honda CRV jeep on Jl. Serdang Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, at about 8:30 a.m.

One man approached him from the right before shooting him twice in the head through the closed window. The other fired at his chest from the left of the car.

The four men fled the scene immediately, according to witnesses.

Following the shootings, the victim's vehicle lost control and struck a nearby cigarette stall and a roadside barber, seriously injuring the cigarette vendor.

Syafiuddin's body was first taken to the Islamic Hospital in nearby Cempaka Putih before it was taken to the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital. The corpse was then buried later in the day at Tanah Kusir Cemetery, South Jakarta.

Justice Syafiuddin headed the panel of judges that sentenced Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra Soeharto last September to an 18- month jail term and fined him Rp 30.7 billion (US$3 million) on charges of corruption.

Tommy is currently still at large.

Syafiuddin was also a member of the panel of judges who freed Soeharto from house arrest and sentenced the former president's close ally, Mohamad "Bob" Hasan, to six years in jail earlier this year.

Born on Sept. 5, 1940, Syafiuddin's last position was junior justice for general crimes at the Supreme Court.

Syafiuddin, a resident of Jl. Lamtana II in Sunter, North Jakarta, is survived by his wife, So'imah, 58, and three children, namely Anna Maria, 31, Arief Achdiat, 25, and Aida Agra Putri, 18.

The shooting of Syafiuddin surprised law enforcers and the political elite alike, who received the news while gathered at the People's Consultative Assembly building for the vice- presidential election.

At the end of the Assembly's session, President Megawati Soekarnoputri led a minute of silence to pray for Syafiuddin.

Sr. Commissioner Adang Rochjana, chief detective at city police, said the police had launched an investigation.

"This was premeditated... We will investigate whether the murder was connected with the Tommy Soeharto case," he told reporters.

Chief Justice Bagir Manan said that it was not difficult to assume that the murder was related to cases Syafiuddin had worked on.

According to Bagir, Syafiuddin was known as a person with integrity, who was committed to eradicating corruption, which is also rampant at the Supreme Court.

R. Sunu Wahadi, retired justice and a member of the panel of judges that sentenced Tommy to jail, said Syafiuddin had complained to him that he was often approached by people who tried to offer him bribes.

He said the last time he met Syafiuddin was on Tuesday, when the latter told him that there were people who had offered him Rp 20 billion in exchange for winning Bob Hasan's case.

"He also said that people linked to Pande Lubis, (an acquitted suspect in the Bank Bali corruption case) had approached him too, but he had rejected all their offers," Sunu told the media, before the ceremonial tribute to Syafiuddin.

Bagir said the tragedy would not scare them away from handling such sensitive cases, saying it was only the risk supreme justices have to take.

"If the culprits thought such a tragedy could scare us, then they have got it wrong," Bagir told reporters at his office.

Bagir's deputy chief Taufiq, who is currently handling the review of the Supreme Court's ruling on Tommy, said that he would not be influenced by the shooting.

"I'm not afraid. It's the risk of this profession. I don't think I need special protection," he said.

The Research Institute and Law Assistance for Court Independency (LeiP) and the Study Center for Indonesian Law and Policy (PSHK), while condemning the murder, called on the police to provide protection for judges, especially those serving at the Supreme Court, whether they were on or off duty.

"This shooting incident will have an adverse impact on the country's drive to uphold the law," they declared in a joint statement. (06/ylt/bby)