Top figures at risk feel unthreatened, vow to uphold law

Top figures at risk feel unthreatened, vow to uphold law

JAKARTA (JP): All officials targeted by Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala
Putra Soeharto, the youngest son of former President Soeharto,
revealed on Tuesday that they were not really affected by the
death threat.

Supreme Court chief Bagir Manan told reporters at his office
on Tuesday that any attempt to intimidate justices would be
fruitless as they (the justices) would remain determined to try
every legal case objectively.

"We're really concerned with the situation, as justices who
have handed down legal verdicts do not deserve to be treated like
this. And if the threat is aimed at intimidating us, then it just
won't work. We'll continue doing our job objectively," Bagir
said.

Bagir further revealed that the police began guarding them
following the murder of Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin
Kartasasmita on July 26.

Syafiuddin, who sentenced Tommy to 18 months in jail last year
for corruption, was assassinated by four men riding two
motorcycles while driving to work at the Supreme Court from his
residence in Sunter, North Jakarta.

The police announced to the media on Monday night, after
raiding a house and an apartment allegedly used by Tommy's men to
launch their recent bombing campaign, that Tommy had also made a
list of officials, including People's Consultative Assembly
Speaker Amien Rais and the House of Representatives Speaker Akbar
Tanjung and a number of justices, as targets to be killed.

During the raids, the police confiscated, among other items,
some fake documents, bombs, dynamite, rifles, mobile phones,
dozens of guns. They also arrested two men identified as Ferry
Ukom and Dedi Sutaedi Yusuf and a woman identified as Hetty Siti
Hartika. Tommy himself is still at large.

Bagir is not mentioned in the list, but he confessed to have
received a death threat recently from a group of people he did
not know.

Outgoing Justice R. Sunu Wahadi said that he became worried
about the death threat after the police briefed the media on
Monday night.

"The night after my colleague, the late Syafiuddin, was killed
by four men, my child received a phone call from a man who said
that I would soon be buried too. Another threat came from a man,
also by phone, saying that he was going to blow my house up. But
I just ignored it," Sunu told reporters at his office.

Another justice, Paulus Lotulung, said he was wondering why he
was among Tommy's targets as he had not received any death threat
before: "I only knew that Tommy planned to kill me after watching
television last night. I'm not among the justices who sentenced
Tommy to jail," Paulus said.

Paulus further added that Tommy might have planned to kill him
because he had rejected an appeal filed by Tommy's automotive
company PT Timor Putra Nasional last November regarding their
responsibility to pay a tax debt of Rp 3.2 trillion (US$336
million) to the government.

But Paulus was quick to add that he was not afraid of such
threats as he believed that, "God will protect His followers."

Separately, politicians Amien Rais of the National Mandate
Party (PAN) and Akbar Tandjung of the Golkar Party, said they
were not going to request additional security despite the fact
that they were included on Tommy's list.

"I'm not sure whether Tommy wants to kill me. I have only
heard from a certain newspaper today that I was among his
(Tommy's) targets. He has no reason to kill me as there's nothing
wrong with my relationship with the Soeharto family," Akbar said,
as quoted by Antara.

Amien admitted that Soeharto's family might have a motive to
kill him because he had campaigned for reform and was extremely
critical of Soeharto's authoritarian rule."

Meanwhile, City Governor Sutiyoso admitted that he had also
received a death threat from allegedly the same people who killed
Syafiuddin.

"I saw my picture among items seized by the police from the
suspects. I looked handsome in the picture. I almost did not
recognize myself," Sutiyoso told reporters, after visiting city
police headquarters.

He did not explain why he had become a target of the group.
However, he admitted that he and his family had earlier received
death threats, which had caused him to move his daughter to
another school. (tso/jun)