Associated Press In Jakarta – The fugitive son of former dictator Suharto remained in hiding on Tuesday as his lawyers claimed that inmates at a Jakarta penitentiary had made death threats against him.
Frustrated prosecutors said they had called on the police to launch a manhunt and arrest "Tommy" Mandala Putra forcibly. "We are ready to move against Tommy," Jakarta police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Nur Usman said.
Attorneys for Tommy said he was too frightened to start an 18- month sentence for corruption. "Tommy has received threats and is afraid for his life," Mudirman Munir said. Tommy is believed to be in Jakarta though his lawyers claim they do not know exactly where.
Mr Munir said negotiations with state prosecutors over Tommy's arrest were deadlocked. The defence team is waiting permission from prosecutors to check security arrangements at Jakarta's Cipinang Prison, he said.
Prosecutors have tried since Friday to take Tommy, 38, into custody, but have been frustrated firstly by his disappearance and later by legal stalling tactics by his defence team. "From now on we will use force," said senior prosecutor Antasari Azhar after early morning talks with Tommy's defence team.
On Monday, lawyers used the difference between a photocopy of a presidential decree and the original to justify their client's absence, despite their frequent promises of his imminent surrender to serve his 18-month sentence.
The Supreme Court convicted Tommy on September 22 of being involved in a land scam that cost the government US$11 million. Tommy has denied any wrongdoing and has filed an appeal against the verdict, which overturned his acquittal in a lower court several months earlier.
He is to serve time at a facility where his father's authoritarian regime once locked up political prisoners. He is the first member of Suharto's super-rich clan convicted for graft – and his imprisonment is regarded as vital to a campaign by President Abdurrahman Wahid to clean up endemic corruption that flourished during three decades of Suharto's dictatorship.
"We are still waiting for the presidential decree. When we have that in hand we will wait for a summoning letter from the South Jakarta District Attorney's office, then Tommy will comply with the summons," lawyer Nudirman Munir said. "I'm not going to surrender my client because what has been given to us is only the photocopy ... we want the original one."