Police (always) too late for a show

Police (always) too late for a show

Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The police basked in praise on Thursday after the one-year long
extensive, but until recently fruitless, search for the nation's
top fugitive Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra.

Wednesday's orchestrated show started when police escorted an
unhandcuffed, smiling and waving Tommy to meet journalists at
Jakarta Police headquarters. He looked healthy and fatter after
having eluded serving the 18-month sentence he had been handed
following his conviction in a graft case last December.

His first appearance in public since last year was repeatedly
broadcast nationwide all evening.

The show, however, could have been staged a long time ago had
law enforcers not treated Tommy as the son of a former president,
a privileged super-rich and powerful businessman, rather than as
a common criminal.

Ex-fugitive Tommy is now the prime suspect in the murder of
Supreme Court Judge M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who was one of
the judges who convicted him on Dec. 3, 2000, as well as being a
suspect in illegal possession of firearms and explosives, and
several bombing cases in the capital. If convicted, he could face
the death penalty.

Why did the arrest occur only one day after newly-installed
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar appeared before the
House of Representatives, which had approved his bid for the top
police job?

"This is purely the result of our men's work," Da'i's
predecessor Gen. Surojo Bimantoro said, describing the arrest was
a great gift to mark the end of his tenure as police chief.

Yet, the public remained skeptical as the prolonged delay in
tracking down Tommy and the performance given in police
headquarters to mark his arrest have sparked speculation that the
police were not serious all along in carrying out their duty, or
that his rich family and powerful friends had been harboring him.

"It really looks as if it is a scenario, an engineered arrest
and a farce," said the chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid and
Human Rights Association Hendardi, as quoted by AFP.

It was ironic to see a number of legislators flocking to
Jakarta police headquarters to congratulate the city police
chief, Insp. Gen. Sofjan Jacoeb, on the arrest, while dozens of
people staged a joyful rally to present him with flowers.

Why? The police could have easily locked up Tommy and
virtually thrown away the key shortly after his arrest was
ordered by prosecutors. No wonder that when such action was not
immediately taken by the police, Tommy, the favorite son of
former dictator Soeharto and a wealthy businessman, had no
difficulty in escaping the clutches of the law.

"He (Tommy) was here this morning but he went out in the
afternoon. I don't know where," a security guard at Tommy's
residence told reporters on Nov. 3 last year, as police and
prosecutors desperately waited for him to appear so they could
serve him with the court's verdict convicting him and ordering
him to jail.

A massive search for the fugitive was then launched, including
the questioning of his siblings and associates. The houses of
Tommy's family members were raided. The most astonishing police
find was a bunker underneath his house on Jalan Cendana, Central
Jakarta.

After months of fruitless searching, Sofjan offered between Rp
500 million and Rp 1 billion as a reward for anyone who managed
to capture Tommy. At the same time, the police also widely
distributed likenesses of the fugitive in which he looked totally
different from how he looks now -- beardless and without his
trademark moustache.

In no way embarrassed by previous failures, before an abruptly
summoned press conference several months ago, Sofjan announced
that his men had raided a house in the upmarket Pondok Indah
area, where Tommy had been hiding for a couple of months. During
the raid, the police confiscated explosives, a large sum of U.S.
dollars and firearms.

Sofjan then warned Tommy to give himself up within three days
or face the consequences. Obviously unimpressed, the redoubtable
Tommy remained at large.

As a result of the original police bungling, the city police
chief in the end had to deploy 30 of his best detectives, spend
almost Rp 2 billion and borrow sophisticated communications
equipment from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation before
they could capture Tommy

Once bitten, twice shy, so they say. The police apparently do
not want to be caught out again and set to work with zeal in
seeking new evidence at the luxury hideout in southern Jakarta,
where Tommy was captured on Wednesday. However, police
investigators returned to headquarters on Thursday empty-handed.
No supporting evidence was found.

Noted criminologist Adrianus Meliala said that what was
important now was for the police to seek additional evidence to
support the allegations of involvement in murder and bombings.

The public must now impatiently wait and see what action is
taken on foot of these allegations.