Political move needed to retrieve Tommy's assets

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It is a common public perception that Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra has stashed away a huge fortune by plundering state assets, especially when his father Soeharto was president.

A string of controversial business ventures could easily be cited in relation to Tommy: the controversial clove trading monopoly, the national car project, and most of all his many business deals with state oil and gas company Pertamina.

However, recouping the plundered state assets by going through the country's legal channels may prove to be a lengthy process, which in the end will not fulfill the people's sense of justice, experts said.

Soeharto had managed to create rules and regulations to cover the unlawful actions of his children in doing business and to legitimize them.

The public will remember how Soeharto provided presidential decrees for Tommy to produce his "Mobnas" or the national car project and to arrange the selling of cloves through his Clove Marketing and Buffer Stock Agency (BPPC).

As normal legal processes seem to be getting nowhere, experts have suggested that political actions be pursued to recover the lost assets.

Noted political observer Arief Budiman proposed that President Megawati Soekarnoputri issue a presidential decree to confiscate all Tommy's assets in order to break the impasse. Only then should legal proceedings follow.

"The government needs to take action against Tommy because it would be difficult to convict him through legal procedures in connection with those huge corruption cases," Arief told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

"He (Tommy) received his father's help in the form of government rulings to provide legal support for his businesses. So, I think we need to issue a presidential decree to confiscate all of his assets and to keep him in jail," he remarked.

Arief said that such actions would definitely violate legal principles and Tommy's lawyers would scream if the government employed such measures.

"However, there is no better option as we cannot trust the legal system and law enforcers in this country to bring Tommy to justice," he added.

He further underlined that Soeharto had ruled the country for three decades. His empire had covered all state apparatus and he was toppled through a reform movement, not a revolution. Therefore, he still has "his men" inside the government system.

"We will never know. Maybe most of the prosecutors and government officials had once tasted 'the cake' from the family," Arief said.

Another political analyst Bara Hasibuan supported the idea saying that the country's legal system does not have the means to deal with the huge corruption cases linked to Tommy.

He said that Megawati should immediately issue such a presidential decree. Otherwise, Tommy and other members of the Soeharto family would continue to conceal their assets to avoid legal actions.

"She will receive public support if she does that, there is no need to worry about that. Although it's already too late, but maybe she can still save some of the country's assets," Bara said.