Jakarta – The release of Parliament Speaker Akbar Tandjung from detention may have been in accordance with the law, but legal observers and critics charged that the move had "severely offended the people's sense of justice".
Akbar, 56, who heads the second largest political party Golkar, was freed from detention last Friday after almost a month in a cell. "It's a setback," said former attorney-general for special crimes Anton Sujata. "The people expect genuine law enforcement."
The release of the powerful politician contrasts with the continued detention of three others also on trial in the so-called "Buloggate" scandal. All defendants face up to 20 years in jail if convicted.
Critics said the decision highlighted the sort of unfair treatment that could crush attempts to genuinely enforce the law. The decision also heightened public scepticism over the impartiality of the law in this high profile case.
The Indonesian Corruption Watch urged the panel of judges at the Central Jakarta District Court to revoke its decision to release Akbar, claiming that the judgment was engineered. "Such an engineered decision will further expand in this case, because the law and political process are inseparable," it said.
The Central Jakarta district court yesterday ruled that Akbar's corruption trial should continue and threw out defence objections that the charges against him are vague and unclear.
The court also announced that former Indonesian president B.J. Habibie will be summoned to give evidence in the high-profile corruption trial, involving the misuse of millions of dollars intended to feed the poor. Akbar, who held ministerial rank under Dr Habibie, listened impassively as the five-judge panel threw out defence objections over the charges.
Dr Habibie, who now lives in Germany, will be called to give evidence at the next session on April 15. But his lawyer, Mr Yan Juanda Saputra, said: "The possibility of Habibie returning to testify in the coming weeks is very small because his wife is still very ill."
The politically sensitive case concerns the disbursement of 40 billion rupiah (S$8 million) in funds from the state logistics agency Bulog during Dr Habibie's presidency in 1999, when Akbar was state secretary.
Akbar, who oversaw the supposed aid programme, claimed that he channelled the cash to an Islamic charitable foundation to deliver food to poor villages in Java.
The Attorney-General's office says there is no evidence any food was ever delivered and there are suspicions the funds were used to bankroll Golkar's campaign in the 1999 general election.