Murder rap slows Suharto's rising son
By Patrick Guntensperger
JAKARTA - Under former dictator Suharto, the military linked Golkar party
dominated Indonesian politics for decades. Now, in a more democratic era, the
deceased Suharto's controversial son, Hutomo Mandala Putri, popularly known as
Tommy, has to the surprise of many announced his intention to take over the
party's reins.
While still influential but no longer all-powerful, Golkar is in disarray after
the poor showing in July of its presidential candidate, incumbent Vice
President Jusuf Kalla, who finished last among three competing candidates. Even
in the legislative polls, Golkar candidates made a poor showing compared to its
2004 win, giving ground to upstart parties and not taking sufficient seats to
form a credible opposition against recently re-elected
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his upstart Democrat Party.
Golkar's upcoming convention, where a new party chairman will be selected, is
thus critical to the party's future, analysts say. Before last month's
presidential election, when the polls showed that Kalla was headed for a
landslide loss, there were already intra-party calls for a leadership change.
Observers believe that unless the party embraces young charismatic candidates
instead of shuffling the old New Order faces, the party risks being reduced to
little more than a historical footnote after another national election cycle.
Until last week, most analysts believed Coordinating Minister for Welfare and
billionaire businessman Aburizal Bakrie was the front runner to become
chairman. Bakrie has major support inside the party, including that of
influential former party chairman Akbar Tandjung, himself a former close
associate of Suharto. It is also well known that Indonesian president Yudhoyono
is in some ways still beholden to Bakrie for his previous financial support,
for which he was apparently rewarded with two powerful cabinet positions. As
Golkar clearly wishes to remain close to the new Yudhoyono administration,
Bakrie's connections are perceived as a political asset.
Thus Tommy's announcement that he feels a "duty" to assume the leadership of
the party his deceased father dominated has reset the political calculus. Some
analysts believe that Tommy's move is at least partly inspired by his desire to
thwart Bakrie's ambitions. It has also been interpreted as an indirect way of
striking out at Akbar Tandjung and other Bakrie backers, a group that Tommy,
47, has long believed were responsible for his father's street protest-led
ouster in 1998.
After Suharto fell and Indonesia began the process of incremental
democratization, Golkar functionaries carried on largely as though nothing had
changed. Although there are now over 130 political parties and elections are as
free as any in Southeast Asia, one-time Golkar members still dominate the
political landscape. Virtually every major player in the last two elections has
strong ties to Golkar and the enormous and still-powerful civil service still
largely sees itself as carrying on in the Suharto tradition.
That gives Tommy's unexpected bid for the party leadership some legitimacy,
though legally there are impediments. Party regulations require chairman
candidates to have held a party leadership position within the last 10 years, a
qualification Tommy, due in part to a period of incarceration, notably lacks.
His advocates note another party regulation that states there are no
restrictions on a party member's right to nominate himself for the
chairmanship. Tommy has apparently taken that to mean that, as a card-carrying
Golkar member, he has a right to run. And, out of deference, it's not clear yet
that anyone in the party will seriously object to his nomination.
But the greater impediment to Tommy launching a career in national politics
will be his criminal conviction for murder in 2002. After being convicted of
graft in 2000, Suharto's youngest and favorite son arranged the contract
assassination of the Supreme Court judge who handed down the ruling. He was
also implicated, but never charged, in a bomb attack against the Jakarta Stock
Exchange.
Tommy was tried and convicted for the judge's murder, but as a Suharto relative
he was given a lenient sentence of 15 years, which Yudhoyono later commuted
"out of respect for his family's good name". The initial corruption charges
were later overturned and in total Tommy served four years for the
contract-style, drive-by killing. That those months were spent playing golf
while surrounded by friends and a team of bodyguards is an open secret reported
widely in the press.
Since his release, Tommy has been occupied with running his global business
empire through his 60% controlling stake in the Humpuss Group, which has more
than 60 subsidiaries in industries ranging from construction to five-star
hotels to pharmaceuticals. Some business analysts believe the group's total
holdings could be worth as much as US$35 billion.
Those businesses were in the main founded and expanded from monopoly
concessions granted to Tommy by his late father, including various spice
monopolies and timber rights in outlying provinces. Many analysts have
speculated those businesses have also been propped in part by the billions of
dollars allegedly embezzled from the national coffers by Suharto. (Suharto has
never been convicted for the alleged embezzlement.)
Tommy claims now to be imbued with a duty to country and often describes
himself as a risk-taker who sets and achieves high goals. There is little
question among analysts that his ultimate goal is the presidential palace
occupied for 32 years by his father. And Suharto's shadow is still so long over
the political scene that Tommy's candidacy is being taken seriously.
Part of his father's legacy is the still strong fealty of his supporters, which
has apparently in some measure been passed on to the next generation. There is
little question that a politically ambitious Tommy will be a force to be
reckoned with at the upcoming convention, and there is a strong possibility
that he will win, analysts say.
But while Tommy may hold some sway inside the party, it's not clear to most
whether a convicted murderer would have the same pull with voters at democratic
ballot boxes.
Patrick Guntensperger is a Jakarta-based journalist and teacher of
journalism. His blog can be found at http://pagun-view.blogspot.com
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