The fugitive appellant
The fugitive appellant
Chief Justice Bagir Manan's conclusion that the Supreme Court
is legally bound to process Tommy Soeharto's appeal despite the
fact that Tommy is a fugitive from justice, is shocking
jurisprudence. "Because Tommy submitted a request for the appeal,
the Court is bound to process the request." This logic reflects
the view that a judge even of the highest court of the land is no
more than a mindless paper-pusher, bereft of any responsibility
for exercising reason, judgement and discretion.
This is a disastrous approach to law enforcement. As long as
police, investigators, prosecutors and judges function in such a
non-thinking way, any suspect with a half-smart lawyer will be
able to outsmart a legal system whose guardians currently seem on
mental autopilot.
Indonesia is laboring to become a nation that honors the rule
of law. Honoring the rule of law doesn't mean following legal
texts slavishly. It doesn't mean abandoning judgment when
drawing legal conclusions, as if enforcing law were like
following a technician's blueprint. It means that government
authorities, when exercising power, adhere to prevailing legal
principles instead of deferring to influential persons.
Competent, non-corrupt justices are not enough; intellectual
courage is also needed during the transition to the rule of law.
With all due respect: the Chief Justice must remove his Soeharto-
era blinders and exhort his colleagues to use their minds while
at work.
Aside from the debatable legal principle that would allow a
fugitive to benefit from an appeal of legal consequences he has
in fact evaded, there is the murder. One doesn't have to be a
conspiracy nut to see the hand of Tommy, obviously tiring of life
on the run, behind the assassination of Justice Syafiuddin
Kartasasmita. It had the clear earmark of a premeditated warning
to those to whom Tommy had already planned to submit his legal
fate.
Like all suspects Tommy is entitled to the presumption of
innocence regarding that crime. Nevertheless, the murder and the
corruption appeal seem so entwined as to render any pre-surrender
appeal a betrayal of justice. Particularly if there is a well-
founded suspicion that the murder was an attempt to intimidate
those who would handle a later appeal, Tommy's appeal request
should be denied until his unconditional surrender to prison
authorities is effectuated. The Soeharto family cannot be
allowed to corrupt Indonesia's law enforcement any longer.
DONNA K.WOODWARD
Medan, North Sumatra