Ex-dictator Suharto Escapes Trial on Corruption

Wahid has promised to restore the rule of law and introduce transparency in government by stamping out corruption. Central to these efforts is the prosecution of the 79-year-old former strongman.

The September 28 dismissal, analysts say, will not only weaken the president's hand in fighting graft, but will also undermine his credibility at a time when his one-year-old government's popularity is at a low ebb.

The verdict releasing Suharto from trial sparked clashes between his supporters and protesters, resulting in the death of one person and injuries to dozens more who gathered outside a government building where the trial was being held.

More were injured in the violence that erupted outside the ex-dictator's home in central Jakarta, when police dispersed hundreds of angry demonstrators with teargas and plastic bullets.

The South Jakarta district court threw out charges that Suharto had embezzled $590 million in state funds during his rule after it accepted findings of an independent team of doctors that the former dictator was mentally and physically unfit to stand trial.

The five-judge panel rejected a prosecution move to try him in absentia.

Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman, who believes Suharto is fit to stand trial, said the justice system had failed the people: "The thing that we aimed for, which was truly to obtain justice for the people, was not achieved."

Wahid, who is out of the country, had said that he would pardon Suharto if he was found guilty by the court.

The capital of Jakarta was relatively calm Thursday. But police and residents are bracing for another period of instability as students and other anti-Suharto forces are expected to take to the streets to express anger at the court's decision.

"A Damaging Ruling," was how the English-language daily Jakarta Post described the court's decision, saying it had wide repercussions that go beyond the graft case.

The court ruling, the newspaper said, will make it difficult -- if not impossible -- for the government to prosecute Suharto's family and cronies, who had benefitted during his 32-year rule, which ended in 1998.

The case involved billions of dollars Suharto and his family are reported to have amassed during his term, the Post said, and money from government coffers which he is believed to have funneled to companies owned by his various foundations.

"The ruling has not only effectively closed the door on all legal avenues to try the former tyrant for his past actions, but it could also destroy President Abdurrahman Wahid's anti-graft campaign," the Post said.

Analysts say the government must move fast and demonstrate its determination to fight corruption despite the major setback.

Political analyst J. Soedjati Djiwandono said the government should take firm action in other areas to mitigate possible public anger so that people would not lose faith in the law.

Among these, he said, is the prompt jailing of Suharto's youngest son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra. He was sentenced last week to 18 months in prison after being found guilty in a scandal involving a 95.4 billion rupiah ($11.2 million) land exchange deal with the State Logistics Agency.

"If Tommy was guilty, he should go to prison immediately. Why wait?" Soedjati added.

Police earlier questioned Putra for a series of bomb blasts that rocked the capital in recent weeks. In the most serious incident, 15 people were killed when a bomb exploded on the Jakarta Stock Exchange building earlier this month.

Wahid had asked the police to arrest Suharto's youngest son to answer charges he was involved in the bombings, but police said there was not enough evidence to warrant his arrest.

Another bomb exploded on Sept. 27 at the office of the Committee for Victims of Violence and Missing Persons, but no casualties were reported.

The newly-appointed police chief Gen. Suryo Bimantoro said 25 people, including two soldiers, have been arrested in connection with the spate of bombings.

Criminologist Mulyana W. Kusuma said that well-organized groups within the Indonesian military were behind the recent blasts. "The terror might not involve the (TNI) military as an institution, but it is not true the military's involvement is merely the intrigues of individuals," he maintained.

Analysts see the involvement of soldiers in the bomb explosions as related to Wahid's campaign to reform the military and weed out corruption. "There are disgruntled groups within the TNI. They lost privileges they used to enjoy in the past. This apparently has made them frustrated and upset," an analyst said.