Government officials say that apprehending Tommy remains a top priority. But most Indonesians are skeptical that he’ll ever see the inside of a prison cell. The reason: he’s a powerful businessman who still has many of his father’s connections. Jusuf Wanandi, a leading political analyst, said authorities do not really want to arrest Tommy and are just going through the motions. “They have a lackadaisical attitude, and a lot of officials in the attorney general’s office are [loyalists] from the Suharto period,” he told NEWSWEEK.
Tommy went into hiding on Nov. 3. A so-called nationwide manhunt ensued, but critics say it’s been at best a halfhearted effort. Authorities have concentrated their efforts on repeated “surprise” searches of the Suharto family homes in Jakarta’s leafy Menteng district. One day police and local officials even walked into Suharto’s bedroom as the ailing ex-president was taking a nap. “We even searched for Tommy in the kitchen and in the cupboard,” said Dedi Sudarmadi, the neighborhood’s community leader. Radar equipment was deployed to find a bunker rumored to have been built under the ex-president’s house. Police found nothing. The most recognizable face in Indonesia had apparently vanished, and Wahid has had to explain why the case was bungled. The eccentric president stunned pundits, as well as his own staff , with a New Year’s revelation. He claimed that a policeman in East Java had apprehended Tommy in mid-December, but had been duped into letting him go. Wahid said that the police officer got nervous when Tommy claimed to have incriminating evidence against the president on a cassette tape. The policeman then went into another room and, according to Wahid’s account, called the president for advice. Wahid ordered him to make the arrest. But by the time the conversation ended, Tommy had fled.
Wahid’s own national police denied this story. They’ve repeatedly asserted that they do not know where Tommy is hiding. But last week Wahid told NEWSWEEK that Tommy was being hidden by a powerful former Army general, whom he did not name. “We know exactly where the house is,” Wahid said. Then why don’t they grab him? Because “the people supporting Tommy are very powerful, too powerful,” Wahid said.
Critics wonder why police didn’t keep Tommy under surveillance after his conviction. And they ask why the attorney general’s office treated Tommy with kid gloves when he blatantly thumbed his nose at the legal system. The Indonesian press dismisses the authorities’ excuses as yet another political game played at the expense of the judicial system. Even if Tommy is jailed, Wahid’s government has suffered another black eye. His promises to stamp out corruption and reform the country’s tainted judiciary and police–ideas enthusiastically endorsed by foreign governments–may take a long time to carry out. “If the police cannot find Tommy soon, the public’s perception about law and order will plummet,” said Hendardi, chief of the Legal Aid Foundation in Jakarta. That has already happened. And the “search” goes on.
