Tommy Suharto

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3621454.stm

Convicted Bali bomber Ali Imron has been spotted in Starbucks coffee shop in Jakarta.

Reporters saw him laughing and joking with Brigadier-General Gorries Mere.

Tommy Suharto is supposed to be in jail for murdering a judge?

He’s been 'doing plenty of business deals and partying during his Jakarta jaunts'.

http://laksamana.net/read.php?gid=62

Laksamana, 19 August 2005, reports on Tommy Suharto who murdered a judge.

Tommy's Special Treatment A Sick Joke.

When former dictator Suharto’s youngest son Hutomo ‘Tommy’ Mandala Putra was sentenced to 15 years in jail in 2002 for murdering a Supreme Court judge, many felt the punishment was too lenient.

But it now appears the billionaire playboy could be released on probation as early as 2006 or 2007.

That’s because he is being given increasingly lengthy sentence remissions twice a year, while the Supreme Court earlier this year controversially cut five years off his rapidly diminishing prison term...

Critics say Tommy’s sentence cuts are proof the highly disreputable Indonesian justice system can still be threatened with violence by the corrupt, rich and powerful...

Tommy is supposed to be incarcerated on an island jail off the coast of Central Java, but in reality he’s visiting Jakarta every month for a week or more.

Such visits are purportedly for medical treatment for an alleged tumor behind his right eye, but rumor has it that he’s been doing plenty of business deals and partying during his Jakarta jaunts.

The 43-year-old has still managed to maintain considerable control over his Humpuss Group congolomerate.

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http://pilger.carlton.com/globalisation/articles/69005

John Pilger:

Suharto was put into power in Indonesia by Britain and America. Suharto was a military dictator.

'A million people were killed and a red carpet was rolled out for western capital. It was the start of globalisation in Asia, a model for the rest of the world, leaving a legacy of sweatshops and corruption.'

'Margaret Thatcher called Suharto "one of our very best and most valuable friends". John Major's foreign secretary, Douglas Hurd, championed the Suharto regime's "Asian values" (the unctuous code for lack of democracy and abuse of human rights). In 1997, Robin Cook's first trip abroad included Indonesia, where he shook hands warmly with Suharto.'

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Suharto believes he was toppled by the CIA when the Americans grew tired of him.

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http://laksamana.net/news_read.php?gid=12

The chronology of Tommy’s evil journey from corrupt playboy to fugitive murderer to pampered prisoner on regular leave to Jakarta.

January 15, 1998: At the height of the economic crisis, with people rioting over skyrocketing prices of basic commodities and soaring unemployment, Tommy arrives at a press conference in his blue Rolls Royce to announce that his much-criticized National Car project will continue despite losing tax breaks and credit privileges under a new IMF deal. The flaunting of his wealth at a time of national crisis furthered hatred of the super-rich Suharto clan.

May 21, 1998: Suharto resigns amid mass riots and nationwide demonstrations. Tommy and his five siblings are henceforth rarely seen in public. Pressure soon mounts for the Suharto clan to be tried for corruption.

April 5, 1999: Tommy and businessman Ricardo Gelael are prosecuted for corruption relating to a land scam that cost the state $11 million.

October 14, 1999: South Jakarta District Court acquits Tommy and Gelael of the graft charges.

November 10, 1999: The Attorney General's Office appeals the acquittals to the Supreme Court.

September 26, 2000: A panel of three Supreme Court judges, led by Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, sentences Tommy and Gelael to 18 months in jail each for corruption. Tommy’s lawyer had allegedly offered Kartasasmita a Rp200 million ($20,200) bribe for a favorable verdict.
October 5, 2000: Tommy meets with President Abdurrahman ‘Gus Dur’ Wahid at the Hotel Borobudur in Jakarta to request a presidential pardon.

October 6, 2000: Tommy has a second meeting with Wahid, this time at the Regent Hotel.

October 19, 2000: Tommy pays a Rp15 billion ($1.5 million) bribe to two “brokers” – professional swindler Sumadi and Muslim cleric Abdullah Sidiq Muin – after they promise to help him obtain a favorable judicial review or a presidential pardon.

November 2, 2000: Wahid refuses to give Tommy a presidential pardon.

November 3, 2000: Tommy is due to start serving his sentence but instead goes on the run. Police seem incapable or unwilling to find him.

July 26, 2001: Supreme Court judge Syafiuddin Kartasasmita is assassinated by two gunmen on a motorcycle in broad daylight in Central Jakarta.

August 6, 2001: Noval Hadad and Raden Maulawarman are arrested for the murder of the judge. They told police that Tommy supplied them with guns and paid them Rp100 million for the murder.

August 6, 2001: Police seize guns, grenades and ammunition at Jakarta residences rented by Tommy.

October 1, 2001: The Supreme Court controversially overturns Tommy’s corruption conviction and 18 month jail sentence, claiming he could not be held accountable for the activities of his company. Despite a public outcry, senior politicians such as Akbar Tanjung and Hamzah Haz say the verdict must be respected and should not be questioned.

November 28, 2001: After more than one year on the run, Tommy gives himself up – or is arrested – at a house in South Jakarta and detained at city police headquarters. He spent some of his time on the lam living with ex-model Lani Banjaranti, who was eight months pregnant at the time of his arrest.

February 20, 2002: Tommy is transferred to a luxury private cell at Cipinang jail in East Jakarta after police handed over his case file to the Jakarta public prosecutor’s office.

May 8, 2002: Central Jakarta District Court sentences gunmen Noval Hadad and Raden Maulawarman to life in prison for the killing of Kartasasmita. Presiding judge Amiruddin Zakaria makes no direct link to Tommy’s responsibility for the murder. The prosecution had sought only 14-year sentences for the pair. Despite initially confessing that Tommy had paid them to carry out the hit, the gunmen later recanted their statements in court, claiming they had actually been contracted by an unknown ethnic Chinese businessman, Frans, to collect a Rp1.2 billion debt from a person whose identity was not revealed to them. This was widely interpreted as hogwash aimed at covering Tommy’s tracks. Tommy was never produced as a witness during the trial, always claiming to be too sick.

May 8, 2002: South Jakarta District Court sentences Tommy’s former childhood friend Dodi Harjito to four years in prison for his involvement in planning the judge's murder. Harjito allegedly introduced Tommy to the hitmen and purchased the motorbike used on the day of the killing.

July 26, 2002: Central Jakarta District Court sentences Tommy to 15 years in jail for murder, fleeing justice, and illegal possession of firearms, explosives and ammunition. Tommy failed to show up for the verdict, claiming to be sick. Three days later he appeared healthy playing badminton at Cipinang.

August 15, 2002: Tommy is transferred from Cipinang jail to Batu jail on Nusakambangan island, off the southern coast of Central Java. He shares a cell alongside his father’s former golfing buddy, timber tycoon Bob Hasan, who is serving a six-year sentence for corruption. Hasan was released in February 2004 after serving only four years of his sentence. His most recent public appearance was the July 7, 2005, wedding of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s son First Lieutenant Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono and former covergirl Annisa Larasati Pohan.

August 17, 2002: Tommy gets an Independence Day remission of 1 month, even though he has been serving his sentence for less than four weeks. A 1999 presidential decree stipulates that a prisoner has to have been in jail for at least six months to have the right to remission.

December 6, 2002: Tommy gets an Idul Fitri remission of 1 month.

August 17, 2003: Tommy gets an Independence Day remission of 5 months and 15 days.

November 25, 2003: Tommy gets an Idul Fitri remission of 1 month and 15 days.

April 2004: Tommy is allowed out of prison for two weeks, ostensibly for an operation at Central Jakarta’s Gatot Subroto Army Hospital to remove a tumor behind his left eye.

August 5, 2004: Authorities ban Tommy’s ex-model girlfriend Sandy Harun from visiting him after she and three of her friends allegedly spent three nights in his cell.

August 17, 2004: Tommy gets an Independence Day remission of 7 months and 10 days.
November 9, 2004: Tommy gets an Idul Fitri remission of 2 months.

December 2004: Tommy makes another week-long visit to Jakarta, again ostensibly for medical treatment. Since then he has been allowed to visit Jakarta for one week every month for “medical treatment” to check whether an alleged eye tumor is benign. Prison authorities insist the regular leave does not signify preferential treatment but is permitted for “humanitarian reasons”.

June 24, 2005: The Supreme Court reduces Tommy’s 15 year sentence to 10 years on appeal. The panel of five judges responsible for the ruling was led by Supreme Court chief justice Bagir Manan, who said the charge of fleeing justice should not have carried any penalty. The decision was widely criticized and prompted speculation the judges had either been given bribes or death threats. After all, Tommy has already proved he can murder judges who cross him.

July 18, 2005: Tempo news magazine reveals that Tommy is planning to invest in the renovation of Jakarta’s lucrative Tanah Abang textile market, which was burned down in 2003.

August 17, 2005: Tommy’s sentence is cut by 1 year and 5 days.

2008: Tommy is widely predicted to be released, enabling him to more freely indulge his passions for fast cars, beautiful women, gambling and corrupt business activities. Only six years or fewer for murder? It still pays to be a Suharto.


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