Police upbeat on building strong case against Tommy
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Police on Tuesday remained confident of building a strong case against Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra as the investigations into the three charges against him would proceed one at a time.
New National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar insisted that by focusing on the cases individually, the police would be able to build a stronger case.
"I have instructed the Jakarta Police chief to resolve the Tommy issue case-by-case," Da'i said during his first hearing as police chief with the House of Representatives' Commission II for domestic and legal affairs.
"This way, there will be no unnecessary biases," he added without elaborating.
"We will hone the case so that it can be proven piece by piece," Da'i claimed.
The legal process surrounding Tommy has thus far been reduced to a series of public farces, which included a year-long flight from justice and the overturning of his conviction by the Supreme Court.
Police investigating Tommy are currently focusing on three separate cases -- the murder of Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, the illegal possession of arms and the masterminding of a spate of bomb attacks.
Many have also called on police to charge Tommy with contempt of court following his flight from justice last year. The police have said, however, that this would only be a compounding factor for the judge to take into account when deciding on the other charges against Tommy.
So far, it is not known whether police and prosecutors will eventually bring the cases before the court in a single indictment or pursue three separate prosecutions.
Separately on Tuesday, city police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam said there were 10 specially chosen detectives tasked with questioning Tommy .
"The first group (on the murder case) is working now and the second will start as soon as the first questioning is finished."
Each group is expected to present a dossier on their respective cases once they have completed their interrogations.
Anton, however, did not say whether police would then present the dossiers separately to prosecutors.
Meanwhile, legislator J.E. Sahetapy urged police to concentrate on one of the cases so that it could be more thorough.
Sahetapy, who is also the chairman of the National Law Commission (KHN), suggested that the murder of Justice Syafiuddin become the priority.
"The investigation could be made more efficient," Sahetapy told The Jakarta Post.
Ahmad Ali, a law professor at state-run Hasanuddin University in Makassar, told the Post that the police should present the three cases on different indictments.
"The crimes committed should be prosecuted under different laws," Ahmad, a former specialist advisor at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, said.
"The charges can't be combined in one indictment. They must be separated because the legal grounds on which the charges are laid are different," he added.
Legislators on Tuesday also reminded the police that their reputation was at stake as they were suspicious circumstances surrounding Tommy's capture.
"We hope the police can satisfy the public's demand for a serious investigation into all the cases involving Tommy," Commission II chairman Teras Narang said.
Da'i also conceded that there were still problems concerning the public perception of the arrest.
Nevertheless, he argued that the public would eventually be able to judge for themselves just how serious the police were once the investigations had been completed.
"We realize the case has become a focus of public attention," he said.