Wealthy, arrogant, armed and above the law

Meydiatama Suryodiningrat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A waiter returns a rejected credit card to a feisty damsel at a table. She responds by complaining to her boyfriend. Coolly he pulls out a revolver then "pops" the waiter in the head -- what a scene.

Neither Coppola nor Scorsese could not have directed it better. A plot out of The Godfather or Goodfellas. But we aren't talking about "made men" here, and the setting is nowhere near Sicily. It's no movie. This is real life -- involving real people on New Year's Day at the Hilton hotel in Jakarta.

An innocent waiter putting himself through college shot dead in arrogance by a man born into one of the New Order's influential families.

One can only wonder at what motivated the suspect to shoot a man so coolly in cold blood, or, for that matter, tote a gun at a party at the Hilton. It was not a mob hit, nor was the suspect -- a drunken Adiguna Sutowo, son of former Pertamina chief and Soeharto chum Ibnu Sutowo -- facing any potential danger.

What sort of drink makes a man lose his senses so completely that he commits murder? Just how captivating was his lady companion that it moved him to take another life?

The shooting in the wee hours of 2005 typifies the behavior many privileged offspring.

Young men who like their sports cars as slick as their guns, their money as easy as their women. Self-proclaimed businessmen whose only business is to exploit their fathers' connections. Vestiges of an era Indonesians have rejected. A dying breed who, apparently, aren't dying fast enough.

The first generation came from familiar stock -- the children of privileged officers and officials from the first decade of the New Order. A nepotistic national corporation which produced businesspeople who were more like freeloaders than entrepreneurs.

The potentate of the pack -- Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo Mandala Putra -- is in prison. Serving time for ordering the murder of a Supreme Court judge. But the likes of him are still roaming wild and their arrogance emulated by a new generation of spoilt brats.

This time its new stock though. Related to reform era politicians, high priced lawyers or successful tycoons. But they carry with them the same vanity as their predecessors.

Son of businessman-cum-politician Oesman Sapta attempted last year to shoot a security guard who tried to intervene in an altercation at the parking lot of a South Jakarta cafe.

In a separate incident a 29-year-old, allegedly connected to an influential Jakarta "businessman" fired half a dozen rounds at a Kijang van after a fender bender with his Porsche.

Many cases remain pending, eventually forgotten. "Eighty-six" a common term at police headquarters for sensitive cases conveniently shelved.

Money and influence buys not only fast cars, but also fast justice -- by all accounts the former case remains in limbo while the suspect in the latter one was not even detained.

For Adiguna, there is little doubt that he will stand trial. The exposure generated makes the case too big to sweep under the carpet.

With proper permits, guns are legal in this country. About 9,702 civilians are registered gun owners in this country, with some 800 in Jakarta.

But permits and regulations do little if gun owners, most of whom hail from upper-class families, continue to act like aristocrats above the law.

The objective of reformasi was not simply a revision of political institutions, but a change in consciousness from a class society marked by privilege and rank to one of equity and justice.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's government has pledged that corruptors will be prosecuted. Nevertheless, ensuring due process in "ordinary" cases involving the wealthy and influential is just as important in inspiring trust in the police and the beleaguered justice system.

This case is a test as to whether lady justice is truly blind or just shortsighted. An end to impunity, or injustice for all. Otherwise the only value of this latest incident is to remind people: Be careful who you talk to in this town, or you just might end up dead!