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Indonesia: Interpol Enlisted For Suharto Hunt
by Kazi Mahmood for IslamOnline
JAKARTA (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Interpol has been ticked to assist in the search for the fugitive son of former Indonesian leader Suharto. Tommy Madala Putra is still on the run, refusing to surrender and serve an 18-month jail sentence.
The Indonesian president, Abdurrahman Wahid, has severely criticized the police force for failing to arrest the millionaire businessman found guilty of an $11 million land scam.
Tommy went missing a week ago when prosecutors went to the Suharto family estate in central Jakarta but found his house empty.
The police have admitted they made a blunder in failing to arrest Tommy while he was still seen in Jakarta driving around in his car and discussing with one of his lawyers on how to escape the jail sentence.
The police said on Saturday they would summon the lawyers of former President Suharto's fugitive son in their efforts to track him down.
''Police will summon Tommy's lawyers on Monday. They will be quizzed, among other things, over whether they are intending not to hand over Tommy,'' Indonesian police chief General Suroyo Bimantoro said.
''I will do everything to get him,'' he added.
Anti-Suharto demonstrators rallied at police stations recently, showing their anger at what is termed the “ridiculous” escape of Tommy from the grips of the police in Jakarta.
The police said they had little progress in their search for Tommy, adding that they are still focusing their search in Jakarta but not relinquishing efforts in other areas. A police spokesman said a letter was sent to Interpol in Paris to assist them in their search in case Tommy is abroad.
Police however doubt he is abroad because he is banned from leaving the country. His lawyers also said that Tommy is still in Jakarta but failed to say where exactly he is.
The public in Jakarta, however, feels that officials might have helped Tommy out of the country through bribes, which is very common in the country. Indonesia earned a reputation as one of the world's most corrupt countries during Suharto's rule, when his family and cronies amassed fortunes.
The failure by the reform government to deal with corruption and bribery might have helped Tommy evade jail and has caused deep distress among reformers who have so far failed in wrestling the powerful Suharto family.
Old man Suharto escaped sentencing in another corruption case last month when a court in Jakarta, on the basis that he was unable to testify, set him free. His health has been at the center of the controversial decision.
Wahid is deeply enraged at the flight of Tommy, considered a deep embarrassment for his government. The Tommy case again shatters the country’s judicial system said to have already lost public’s confidence.
Tommy recently said that he wanted to be jailed in a VIP block at the Cipinang prison, fearing for his life and informing the police that he received direct death threats from city prison inmates.
He wanted his lawyers to accompany him to jail if he surrenders to the police reports say.
Tommy's lawyers say he will not go to Cipinang jail - dubbed by one former inmate as Indonesia's ''heaven of prisons'' - until he is guaranteed protection from the threats of rape and murder.
President Wahid has rejected a request from Tommy that he be given a special treatment at the Cipinang Penitentiary as a condition for his surrender.
"Just execute the court decision, but not too harsh. Find him," the President said Thursday at the celebration of the 77th anniversary of the Nahdlatul Ulama Muslim organization in Pamekasan, Madura Island, East Java.
Gus Dur (as Wahid is nicknamed) revealed Tommy once asked his permission to build his own cell at the Cipinang complex and to allow eight of his bodyguards to accompany him while serving his 18-moth prison term.
According to the President, Tommy's request was probably triggered by his fears for his safety. Wahid urged Tommy to immediately enter Cipinang Penitentiary, and that if he did not like it there, he could find another place.
"Just come first, if it's not safe in the morning, then he can move out in the afternoon," said Gus Dur, quoted by Antara.
Tommy is the only member of the Suharto family to be convicted of any crime.
The government is still struggling to resolve the tangle of debt and bankruptcy that followed Suharto's demise.
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