Jakarta Police Release Suharto’s Son

The youngest son of Indonesia’s deposed dictator was questioned and released by Jakarta police Saturday, one day after President Abdurrahman Wahid ordered him arrested for his suspected role in recent bombings.

Hutomo “Tommy” Mandala Putra, whose father was former President Suharto and who is one of Indonesia’s wealthiest men, walked out of the police station with a smile after talking with investigators for about two hours.

The ex-president’ son, commonly known as Tommy Suharto, told reporters that he was “very disappointed” with Wahid for his remarks but that he had met with investigators and “clarified” the situation.

The police decision to release Hutomo, 38, appeared to come in direct defiance of the president. At the same time, it was unclear whether Wahid could legally order the arrest of a citizen on the basis of incomplete evidence.

The release capped a week in which 15 people were killed by a car bomb at the Jakarta Stock Exchange, former dictator Suharto boycotted his trial on corruption charges and Indonesia was criticized by foreign powers because of the Sept. 6 slayings of three U.N. aid workers.

The events have created an atmosphere of crisis and contributed to the appearance that Wahid--in poor health and legally blind--has only a tenuous hold on power in the fractious country.

Some fear that supporters of the elder Suharto and their allies in the military have staged the series of violent events in a campaign to destabilize the nation and return to power.

Suharto, a former five-star general who ruled with an iron hand until he was forced from power in 1998, has been charged with funneling at least $571 million from charities he controlled to friends and family members, including his youngest son. The ex-strongman, now 79, maintains his innocence but has refused to go to court, contending that he is too ill to stand trial.

In July, a bomb damaged the attorney general’s office shortly after Hutomo was questioned about the family’s wealth. In late August, the day before his father’s corruption trial was scheduled to start, a bomb blew out the windows of an empty bus parked near the court building.

On Wednesday, a car bomb went off in the garage of the stock exchange building in the deadliest attack to date. The bombing occurred the day before Suharto’s corruption trial was scheduled to resume.

Wahid struck back Friday by naming the former dictator’s son as one of the people behind the stock exchange blast and said he had ordered Hutomo’s arrest to prevent further attacks. The president alluded to wiretapping evidence that disclosed the targets of future bombings.

“The government has decided to take drastic steps against those behind [the attacks] and prevent similar incidents happening in the future,” the president said.

In response, the younger Suharto went to the police station adjacent to the Jakarta Stock Exchange building Saturday morning accompanied by bodyguards but without a lawyer.

“I came here on my own initiative rather than being chased here by the police,” he told reporters.

After questioning the onetime playboy and race car driver, police said they did not have any evidence to hold him.

“We haven’t decided his status yet, since it is still being clarified,” said Harry Montolalu, head of investigations for the Jakarta police department. “Tommy said he wasn’t involved and didn’t know anything about this explosion.”

Montolalu also said Hutomo had denied stirring up supporters of the former dictator who in recent days have clashed with student protesters angry over his failure to attend his trial.

A second suspect named by the president, Habib Alwi al Baagil, the leader of a pro-Suharto Muslim group, was released after he went to police headquarters Friday evening.

He maintains his innocence and has threatened to sue the president for slander.