[Kabar-indonesia] SMH Editorial: Soeharto son's release a travesty

[Joyo at aol.com]

The Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday, November 1, 2006

Editorial

Tilted scales of justice: Soeharto son's release a travesty

THE processes of justice in Indonesia's court system
continue to baffle anyone looking for consistency or
punishments fitting the crime. A well-connected member of
the Jakarta elite, especially someone belonging to top
military or crony circles around the former president
Soeharto, can expect to spend a comparatively short time in
jail, whatever the crime. An offender from the lower social
orders, or a foreigner, can expect draconian punishment,
increased rather than lessened on appeal.

So it has been with Tommy Soeharto, perhaps the most
egregious of the former president's children in greedy rent-
seeking during his father's 32-year rule. A Jakarta judge
gave Tommy an 18-month jail term in September 2000 for a
real estate deal that ripped off the state food agency. This
was eventually overturned on appeal, but by then Tommy had
organised the judge's murder from the Jakarta safe houses
where he had hidden from justice. After a year on the lam,
Tommy was arrested and in September 2002 sentenced to 15
years in jail for the judge's murder. A sentence cut of five
years followed, and with cumulative remissions for good
behaviour Tommy has walked free, having spent just five
years in custody. He returns to enjoy the wealth of his
Humpuss group, still plugged leech-like into the state oil
company, and estimated variously to be worth between $US250
million and $US1 billion.

Another beneficiary of Indonesian clemency has been
Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, given 14 years in jail late
last year for administering a lethal dose of arsenic to the
human rights lawyer Munir Said Thalib while sitting next to
him on a Garuda Airlines flight. His main sentence has just
been annulled by a higher court, leaving a minor accessory
conviction drawing two years' jail, which will have been
served in a few months. The riddle of what Pollycarpus, an
off-duty Garuda pilot, had against Munir is still
unexplained - as are the 41 calls logged on his mobile phone
to a deputy chief of the State Intelligence Agency. Munir's
courageous work in exposing the Indonesian military's crimes
against humanity in East Timor suggest a motive.

The clemency perversely shown in these murder cases, and to
some involved in the Bali terrorist bombings, will make it
harder for Australians to accept the more severe sentences
meted out to drug smugglers and the wildly divergent
sentencing patterns of different judges and courts. It will
raise more questions about co-operation with Indonesian
police and intelligence agencies. It will increase
expectations that political pressure on Jakarta can
influence sentencing and commutation decisions.

------------------------------------------
Joyo Indonesia News Service
------------------------------------------