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by Victor Tjahjadi JAKARTA (AFP) - The youngest son of former Indonesian president Suharto, under threat of arrest for possible links to bombings in Jakarta, was questioned at the capital's police headquarters for more than two hours Saturday.
"Tommy" Hutomo Mandala Putra, 37, emerged from the building a little more than two hours after arriving in a private vehicle mid-morning, accompanied only by his driver, an AFP reporter said. "I came here at my own initiative rather than be chased by police," the businessman said before entering the building. On Friday, President Abdurrahman Wahid said that he had ordered Tommy's arrest. Mobbed by reporters when he emerged from the headquarters, Tommy said: "Ask them [the police] if they have proof." "I am very disappointed with Gus Dur's [Wahid's nickname] statement," he added. Detective chief Senior Superintendent Harry Montolalu told reporters Tommy had come in response to a summons. "Mr. Tommy feels that he is not involved. We verbally summoned him and he willingly showed up," Montolalu said. Wahid said on Friday without elaborating the government had "lots of evidence" connecting Tommy to the blasts, the latest of which ripped through the parking lot of the Jakarta Stock Exchange on Wednesday killing 10 people. He said he had given instructions at a cabinet meeting on Thursday for Tommy's arrest, and the arrest of a second person, a young Muslim leader. But police contradicted the president Friday, saying they had insufficient evidence to arrest Tommy. Montolalu repeated Saturday they had "not yet found any evidence" of Tommy's involvement in the bombings. Montolalu also cautioned reporters that Saturday's questioning was "pre-judicial," and that Tommy had been summoned not as an accused, but as a witness, a term which covers a broader legal spectrum here. "He was summoned for his alleged involvement in the disturbances, including the bombing incidents," the detective chief said. "One thing is clear, he feels that he was not involved in the recent incidents," he added. Speculation has been rife in the capital that the Suharto family or their loyalists have been behind the bomb blasts, mainly because of the timings and the widespread belief the family still commands a vast fortune. The stock exchange bombing came on the eve of the second session of the 79-year-old former dictator's corruption trial. Another blast - although not identified as a bomb - blew up a bus near the trial venue on the eve of the first session. On July 4, a bomb exploded in the attorney general's office hours after Tommy was questioned there about his father's charity foundations. No one was hurt in that blast, but a more powerful pack of explosives was found in the same office the following day and defused. Tommy's bodyguards were questioned in the attorney general's office over the incidents, but no charges were laid. On August 1st, a powerful bomb exploded at the entrance to the home of Philippine Ambassador Leonides Caday, killing two people and injuring 20, including Caday. Montolalu also said police have questioned 12 other people as witnesses in the stock exchange bombing, but no arrests have been made. |
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