'Son of former Indonesian ambassador allegedly arrested'

Yogita Tahilramani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A British newspaper report claimed that a family member of a senior Indonesian diplomat in London was recently released following his brief arrest for alleged possession of cocaine.

The Evening Standard newspaper, in a report published on Wednesday claimed that Harris Sutresna, 20, son of then outgoing Ambassador Nana Sutresna, was arrested during a police raid in a flat in Hackney on March 28.

He was detained after allegedly being found in possession of crack cocaine, which is categorized as a class A drug.

According to the report, however, Harris was soon released on grounds of diplomatic immunity, as his father was Ambassador to the UK.

The Sutresna family left London on April 13 and returned to Jakarta.

The departure was scheduled as Nana had completed his term as ambassador and had already bid farewell to relevant state officials.

The report quoted sources from Scotland Yard (the British Police) and the Foreign Office to support the story but did not reveal the sources' names.

No independent confirmation, however, could be obtained from the Indonesian side.

Nana, 68, was unavailable for comment when The Jakarta Post contacted his residence here, while Indonesian foreign ministry officials also said they had not received an official report on the matter.

The charge d'affairs at the embassy in London, N.T. Dammen, when contacted by the Post, claimed that he only learned of the news from the Evening Standard.

"The news was hot for two days and then it totally died down. Diplomatic sources too, according to the report, have stated that the matter was closed," Dammen said.

Wahid Supriyadi, of the Indonesian foreign ministry in Jakarta, also told the Post that he had only heard of the news on Friday morning.

"I checked with the ministry's consular directorate... it too has not received anything in writing about this matter. Usually when such mishaps occur, the consular directorate receives these matters in writing," Wahid said on Friday.

Under the 1963 Geneva Convention diplomats and their dependents enjoy immunity from prosecution.

Although Britain can make a request for immunity to be lifted in serious cases, that was not requested by the British police, or the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.