Reporter: Tim Palmer
Hamish Robertson: When Tommy Suharto, the mega rich son of Indonesia's former dictator, was sent to jail for organising the assassination of the judge who'd been investigating him, many saw it as a hopeful sign. At last, it seemed, a new Indonesia was emerging where no one was above the law.
But prison for Tommy Suharto has been a far easier proposition than for the average Indonesian convict, and in the past few days he's received news that even his somewhat cushioned punishment could end much sooner than expected.
After a Supreme Court decision cut years off his sentence, it became clear last week that with the remissions he's been granted, Tommy Suharto could be out of jail within the next 12 months.
As Tim Palmer now reports from Jakarta, there's now concern that no one in the Indonesian justice system will feel able to pursue the rich and corrupt without fearing for their lives.
Tim Palmer: Four years ago, Indonesians began to believe that political reform had finally reached the stage where even the untouchables of the Suharto era could now be brought to justice when the former dictator's own son – the playboy billionaire Tommy Suharto – was sent to jail, guilty of sending two hitmen to kill the judge, Justice Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who was investigating him for corruption. Tommy was given a 15-year sentence.
But this week there are signs that such legal reform is unravelling. Bitterly emotional, the judge's widow this week told the ABC how she'd heard on television that Tommy had had five years stripped from his sentence by the Supreme Court.
(sound of Syafiuddin Kartasasmita's widow speaking)
"We're so disappointed with the Supreme Court review," she said. "We thought the first sentence was light enough, but this is a really big disappointment."
Tommy has already been given the better part of two years worth of remissions from his sentence – six months reduction in a single day during last year's independence celebrations. With further remissions expected, the convicted killer could now be free within a year. That her late husband's fellow judges contributed to that is not lost on the grieving widow.
(sound of Syafiuddin Kartasasmita's widow speaking)
"It's brought our pain to the surface again," she said. "How could they make a decision so painful to our family? Those who have the power to set this sentence, please consider our feelings."
And it's not as if Tommy Suharto's life in jail has been hard labour. Set up in a comfortable room in the jail on an island off Java, Tommy breeds tropical fish in the tank in his anteroom, unaccustomed to prison food, Tommy's meals are brought over on a speedboat from the mainland.
He has visitors regularly, it's believed including girlfriends, and he's frequently flown to high class private clinics in Jakarta for health checks.
He apparently conducts his business affairs unhindered behind bars. And the wilder rumours even say he's frequently seen at nightclubs outside jail altogether.
Pro-reform lawyer Franz Juanita (phonetic) says the reduction in sentence is a legal catastrophe for Indonesia. It means the whole justice system can be threatened with violence, and that the rich and powerful still won't be held to account. Amid rumours in Jakarta that the Supreme Court might have been affected by intimidation or graft in reducing Tommy's sentence, Franz Juanita (phonetic) expressed bitter disappointment with their decision.
Franz Juanita: I think they don't show any of this back to their colleagues, which has been shot dead.
Tim Palmer: What does it say about reform in Indonesia's courts, when many people thought the Supreme Court was going to be the court that led the way in reform?
Franz Juanita: Yeah, and I also believe that the legal reform has to be started with the legal institution, as the summit of the legal institution is the Supreme Court. But alas, the Supreme Court doesn't have the political will to reform themselves because everybody was thinking about their own face, their own money, their own income. It's sad for Indonesia, as a matter of fact.
Tim Palmer: What you're suggesting is that in Indonesia today justice in the Indonesia of Suharto, money speaks more loudly than justice.
Franz Juanita: Yes, I think... that's what I think, you see, because it continues, and it's even worse than during Suharto, because it is more widespread than during Suharto. It's built into the system. So it's weak.
Tim Palmer: The fact that so little has really changed in official attitudes towards the rich and corrupt is unsurprising, Franz Juanita (phonetic) says, you only have to look at current President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's fawning visit to the ageing dictator Suharto in the past few weeks to understand how things still really work in Indonesia.
Hamish Robertson: That report by Tim Palmer in Jakarta.