Vaudine England, Jakarta – Jakarta's legal community is unimpressed by the charging of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra.

Although counted as a significant step in that it represents the first actual criminal charge lodged against any member of the Suharto family, most lawyers say the chance of a serious trial and sentencing of any Suharto under the present Government is negligible.

Several lawyers contacted simply laughed at the suggestion that the charges laid will result in any delivery of justice against alleged corruption at the top in Indonesia.

"Nothing will happen," said one lawyer with long experience in Jakarta. "I just dismiss it as a game being played, which won't go anywhere."

Public demands that the Suharto family, particularly the ex-president himself, be prosecuted for robbing the nation have been largely sidelined by the Habibie Government.

A surreptitious recording of an alleged phone call between President Bacharuddin Habibie and Attorney-General Andi Ghalib did not help matters, as it implied the Government's concern was to protect Mr Suharto and his family as much as possible.

This particular charge against Mandala Putri had legal merit, noted Indonesian lawyer Hamid Awaluddin, as the land deal focused on by the court was at least questionable.

"But my question is: why prosecute this case and leave cases like that about the national Timor car project [controlled by Mandala Putra] alone?" Mr Awaluddin said.

Many of a range of potential cases against the family seem to be "disappearing", he added, while another lawyer noted that the mere laying of charges left the court system a very long way away from change.

No new commitment to rule of law or fair distribution of justice has occurred since public pressure arose for fundamental change in the administration of law in Indonesia in the wake of Mr Suharto's resignation from the presidency last May.

Last week, the 11 elite Kopassus [special forces] troops convicted for abducting nine political activists last April were finally sentenced to jail. But whereas the charges allowed for sentences of up to eight years jail, the longest given was 22 months.

This was the first and only sentencing of members of the ruling elite since the change of president, and human rights and legal experts could only conclude that the "old" ways of manipulating the courts to serve the rulers were alive and well.