Road to justice

Road to justice

When power and privilege, and the abuse of both, have come as
a birthright, it appears to be difficult to make the mental
adjustment to harsh reality. For Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra,
son of disgraced former Indonesian president Suharto, the good
times are over.

But his efforts to avoid paying for his excesses suggest some
problem in recognizing that his charmed life ended with his
father's downfall. Not even clemency is on the cards now.

President Abdurrahman Wahid is proving to be tenacious in his
crusade to bring the former leader to justice, even after a team
of 23 doctors testified that Suharto was too sick to face trial.
"There will be other situations where we have to investigate the
participation of the former president," he said after the court
dismissed the case. Mr. Wahid made clear yesterday that he will
not pardon the pampered son who profited hugely from his position
without performing any service for his country.

Hutomo's father can at least claim to have brought benefits to
Indonesia in his early days in power, including modernizing the
country and invigorating the economy. Among the list of offenses
of which Hutomo stands accused, President Wahid has included the
September bomb attack on the Jakarta stock exchange in which 15
people lost their lives.

Police failed to act on Mr. Wahid's instructions to arrest
Hutomo in connection with the blast, claiming insufficient
evidence. But the atrocity is thought to have been carried out by
pro-Suharto factions, angered by attempts to bring Suharto to
trial, and Jakarta seems destined to violence by one faction or
another whichever way the situation develops.

Militant student groups have vowed to bring Mr. Wahid down
unless Suharto is indicted. But suggestions that jailing Hutomo
on a HK$83.7 million land scam is a sop to public anger are
almost certainly unfair. Beleaguered he may be, but Mr. Wahid has
shown himself determined to see justice done. His political
future could hinge on that. Only a thorough investigation into
past presidential misdeeds, plus efforts to recover billions
milked from the state, will defuse social unrest, allowing
Indonesia to start healing its wounds under a fair and open
regime.

-- The South China Morning Post, Hong Kong