|
Tommy Suharto's Wife Pleads with Police
JAKARTA, Aug 13 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Tommy Suharto, tracked by police in Indonesia, and accused of staging a series of bombings including the "mafia" style murder of a judge in Jakarta last month, as of Monday, has yet to surrender and face justice.
Tommy Mandala Putra Suharto, the son of former strong man General Suharto, has gone beyond a deadline by police for his surrender, forcing authorities to order security forces to shoot Tommy on sight if he resists arrest.
This has prompted the wife of the frugal billionaire businessman, who has been on the run for the past 10 months, escaping police capture on many occasions, to appeal to the police to save the life of her husband.
News agencies in Indonesia said Monday that Ardhia Pramesti Regita Cahyani, alias Tata, the Tommy's (aka Ibrahim Hassan) young wife, has pleaded with police to give her husband a chance to surrender.
She said her husband was innocent of the crimes attributed to him by the police, since he is yet to be convicted of these crimes in a court of justice.
"Give a chance to Tommy to surrender. He is still innocent of the crimes." Tata said, after being questioned by police on activities and latest whereabouts of her husband.
Before her, Tommy Suharto's sisters wept when police interrogated them last week. They were told that authorities would post a prize of $50,000 for his capture and a "shoot on sight" order if the latter did not surrender, or resisted arrest.
Tommy's two sisters, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana and Siti Hediati, themselves considered rich businesswomen in Jakarta, were interrogated last Saturday.
Tata, like Tommy's sisters, was accompanied to the police station by bodyguards and three other officials from Cendana, General Suharto's house.
The Suharto family said it did not accept accusations that Tommy was responsible for the shooting of Chief Justice Syafiuddin Kartasasmita last month.
Sources say the family has difficulty in believing that Tommy would have teamed up with Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members in carrying out bombings that rocked Jakarta before Megawati Sukarnoputri acceded to the presidency.
"There is a crucial battle for survival that is going on in Indonesia between the two 'presidential' families, that of the Suharto's, and the Sukarno's," Mujardi Kamal, an expert on Indonesia's two main families, said.
"Thus the authorities are led to believe there is a rivalry and that the bombings are an expression of anger against the Sukarno family," the researcher added.
On the other hand, Tommy's wife told police that she and the family were waiting for Tommy to call in order to announce his surrender.
She promised police that she would plead with her husband to surrender in order to help clarify the accusations against him. She added that she would tell her husband to make a statement to the press on the matter as well.
Tommy was found guilty in a corruption case involving a land transfer that cost the Indonesian republic several million dollar losses.
He was condemned to 18 months in jail in November 2000. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita was one of the judges that adjudicated Tommy's case, and his killing has been linked to the judgment.
The debate among Indonesians is running deep on the intentions of the fugitive "rich man whose money is unlimited", IslamOnline was told.
Tommy is regarded as one of the richest young men in the country, despite the fact that the government this year proceeded with the seizures of several of his possessions and blocked his bank accounts.
With additional reporting by Kazi Mahmood
|
