Will Tommy ever face the music?

Will Tommy ever face the music?

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta

Will Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra ever be punished?

This is the question that is preoccupying the minds of many
people following his arrest on Wednesday.

Tommy's arrest has undoubtedly become the hot topic of
conversation across the country, but many have expressed
pessimism about the legal process awaiting him, saying that the
millionaire will in the end buy his freedom.

With all due respect to the country's law enforcers, people
have good reason for doubting the bona fides of the government in
bringing the most wanted man in the country to justice, experts
say.

The public have seen a long and ridiculous legal process
against Tommy. When what the public wanted was for him to be put
in jail for his involvement in a graft case, in the end he was
acquitted by the Supreme Court of all charges

And when other fugitives would have been shot in the leg for
running away, he received a hug from the Jakarta Police chief
Insp. Gen. Sofjan Jacoeb after his arrest on Wednesday.

Noted lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said that Indonesia's law
enforcers were just "too nice" in their treatment of Tommy, who
could actually be categorized as the most dangerous person in the
country.

"The way they (law enforcers) have been treating him shows
that justice and the judicial institutions in Indonesia belong to
those who have the money and power," Todung told The Jakarta Post
on Friday.

"The fact that the police held a joint press conference with
Tommy, a fugitive, is solid proof of the degradation of police
integrity. The public have every reason to have doubts about the
legal process against him," he asserted.

Todung underlined that the country's officials had a wrong
mind set, and continued to treat Tommy as a VIP, when actually he
was a fugitive.

Political analyst Kusnanto Anggoro said: "It is difficult to
even hope for a proper legal process against Tommy."

However, Todung said the country should be optimistic that one
day the institutions of justice would belong to the people and
not to those in power.

"Well, maybe the people's reaction won't affect the outcome of
the legal process against Tommy. But, we must not stop being
optimistic," he added.

But still, optimism alone is not enough, although prosecutors
seem content to waste time by lodging a petition with the Supreme
Court to overturn its ruling exonerating Tommy of corruption.

Bambang Widjojanto of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute
Foundation (YLBHI) said the move would not put Tommy in jail as
it was unknown in the country's legal system.

He said he could think of no precedent where a party had the
right to seek the abrogation of a Supreme Court review panel's
decision, even if an apparent miscarriage of justice had taken
place.

On Thursday, state prosecutors submitted a request asking
Chief Justice Bagir Manan to abrogate the court's decision
exonerating Tommy of all charges due to the presence of several
procedural defects.

The move was taken to ensure that Tommy would serve his 18-
month jail sentence for his role in a land-swap scam that caused
losses to the state as determined by another panel of Supreme
Court justices in November of last year.

Bambang expressed his doubts that the Supreme Court would
overturn the decision of its review panel.

"Although the prosecutors have all the right arguments, I'm
afraid their request will be rejected by the Supreme Court
because such a procedure is unrecognized in our law," he told
journalists at his office.

He pointed out that there were two other more common ways to
make sure Tommy served his sentence: a request to make the
Supreme Court review panel's decision on Tommy non-executable due
to legal flaws, or a request to annul the decision and order a
rehearing due to a conflict of interest or attempts to pervert
the course of justice.

The first option was also impossible, Bambang said, as the
Jakarta Prosecutors' Office had executed the verdict by summoning
the fugitive Tommy to accept it.

The remaining option was to seek a rehearing.

Todung, however, had another suggestion. The easiest way to
get Tommy into jail, he said, would be prosecute him for contempt
of court for defying the verdict of the court and going on the
run.