Dismissal of Suharto case leaves many Indonesians dismayed

A young Indonesian boy joins anti-Suharto protesters during clashes with security forces in Jakarta on Thursday night

JAKARTA, Indonesia (Reuters) -- The dismissal of former dictator Suharto's graft case has provoked widespread dismay in Indonesia, severely dented what remains of President Abdurrahman Wahid's credibility and triggered fears of more violence.

Newspaper editorials said on Friday the South Jakarta Court's decision on Thursday to drop the case because the aging former president was too ill had quashed the hopes of many seeking justice from the abuses that marked his 32-year iron rule.

Prosecutors have said they would appeal against the decision, but few believed it would succeed.

VIDEO CNN's Maria Ressa shows reaction in Indonesia Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     INTERACTIVE MAP Fragile Archipelago -- a look at conflict areas in Indonesia and environs     RESOURCES TIME: 'The President Named a Few People Close to Suharto' TIME: Trial of the Century TIME: Suharto Inc.: All in the Family     MESSAGE BOARD Strife in Indonesia

At least 50 protesters and some security officials were injured in running street battles that lasted into the night after the case was dismissed. There were unconfirmed reports that one protester was killed, while more than 50 have been arrested.

Those street clashes followed a spate of bomb blasts that coincided with the Suharto case, leading many officials to accuse disgruntled supporters of the ex-autocrat of stirring up trouble.

The leading Jakarta Post newspaper painted the picture of Wahid's administration being outwitted by an old man and his clever lawyers, adding that the ruling could destroy the Muslim cleric's anti-graft campaign.

"The decision has caused untold irreparable damage to the nation's quest for truth and justice, to the nation's struggle to wipe out corruption, and most of all, to the credibility and public standing of the government of Abdurrahman Wahid," it said.

Wahid, who pledged to reverse Indonesia's reputation as one of the world's most corrupt countries when he took power 11 months ago, is on another overseas trip, this time to South America. He has made no public comments on the Suharto case.

Political scientist J. Soedjati Djiwandono, using Wahid's popular nickname, added:

"The consequences for Gus Dur are very bad. This is a great political defeat for his administration ... we are now facing unintended consequences such as these outbreaks of violence."

The Muslim-oriented Republika daily insisted the case could not be closed because most Indonesians wanted an accounting of Suharto's dark past of alleged graft and human rights abuses.

Suharto's tough rule, which ended in May 1998, had ushered in decades of rapid economic growth and raised incomes off the floor, but his successes appear to have been all but forgotten across Indonesia after the country's last three years of crisis.

Indonesian police officers, wearing toothpaste on their faces to lessen the effect of tear gas, taunt anti-Suharto demonstrators near the courthouse where the former president was tried for corruption

Suharto son still headed for jail

However, there has been some solace in news that Suharto's playboy youngest son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, is destined for jail after the Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned an earlier verdict and sentenced him to 18 months in jail for graft.

Jakarta's Cipinang jail has already prepared a special cell for Tommy, who the Supreme Court said had caused losses to the state of $11 million from a land scam in the mid-1990s.

Tommy's only hope of avoiding a scheduled date with jail on Monday is by seeking a presidential pardon, something Wahid was unlikely to grant after ordering Tommy arrested two weeks ago over recent bombings in Jakarta.

Indonesian police had ignored Wahid's demand.

Independent doctors on Thursday told the South Jakarta Court -- the same institution that dropped Tommy's graft case last year -- that Suharto had the comprehension of a young child and was unfit to stand trial. Suharto has suffered three strokes.

The man who dubbed himself the "Father of Development" had been charged with embezzling $550 million from charities he controlled, but Suharto and his family were also accused of corruptly amassing up to $45 billion during his rule.

Some government officials had already suggested the Suharto case be dropped because of fears that attempts to force the former general into court could ignite more violence across a country struggling to shake off chronic instability.

Each of the three days of Suharto's trial were marked by explosions the day before, including a car bomb attack on the stock exchange two weeks ago which killed at least 15.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Government of Indonesia
AsianNet, Indonesia On-Line
Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights

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