Police build murder charges against Tommy
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Police continued their intensive interrogation of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra on Monday, focusing on trying to build up a murder case against former President Soeharto's youngest son.
While the questioning was apparently still limited to his escape a year ago, police claimed they were confident of constructing a strong case for premeditated murder in the drive- by shooting of Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who was one of the panel of judges that convicted Tommy for graft.
Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Sofjan Jacoeb denied speculation that the police were unfocused in their investigations, saying that the primary spotlight was being placed on the murder case.
Tommy, 39, was captured last week after a year in hiding. Police have said that apart from the murder charge, he could also face charges of illegal possession of arms and masterminding a spate of bomb attacks.
The government, however, has also asked the police to include Tommy's contempt of court by his evading arrest last year.
As reporters continued to stake out police headquarters on Monday, curiously the name of former president Abdurrahman Wahid was often heard, with the speculation over alleged deals between Abdurrahman and Tommy getting increasing media coverage.
However, it could not be independently confirmed whether Tommy alluded to Abdurrahman during his interrogation.
Tommy's lawyer, Elza Syarif, told The Jakarta Post on Friday that neither she not her client had "blown it up in the media."
"We spoke to the police and gave all the documents and evidence to the police. That's all," she remarked.
Reporters in an attempt to ask Tommy himself about the matter only received a smile before he was escorted to another room.
Sofjan Jacoeb himself was vague about the whole thing saying only that certain names "were mentioned by Tommy when asked why he ran away."
"Tommy also mentioned other names which I will not disclose here," Sofjan added.
It is unclear whether Tommy's questioning will eventually drag in other high profile names as he was known to move in the upper echelons of society.
What is clear is that in the dying days of Abdurrahman's presidency, all was not going well between the former president and the police as he tried to slowly oust the then police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro from office.
More of Tommy's acquaintances have been summoned by police, with the model and wife of businessman Setyawan Djody, Sandy Harun, being the latest to be questioned.
Sandy, according to police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam, could be named a suspect if she really did meet Tommy twice during his time on the run as has been alleged.
Police on Monday also summoned Deddy Yusuf and Ferry Ukom for allegedly helping Tommy obtain fake documents using the alias Ibrahim.
Separately, legal experts underlined the importance of the police conducting a "successful" investigation of Tommy, stressing that the police's credibility was at stake with so much public attention focusing on the case.
Former Supreme Court justice Adi Andojo Soetjipto told The Jakarta Post on Monday that the people must be given the satisfaction of seeing justice being served.
Meanwhile, J.E. Sahetapy, chairman of the National Law Commission (KHN), suggested that the police concentrate on one primary case so that their investigations would be more focused, citing the murder of Syafiuddin as probably the most serious of the alleged offenses.
"The investigation could be made more efficient," he insisted.