When power and privilege, and the abuse of both, have come as a birthright, it appears to be difficult to make the mental adjustment to harsh reality. For Hutomo 'Tommy' Mandala Putra, son of disgraced former Indonesian president Suharto, the good times are over. But his efforts to avoid paying for his excesses suggest some problem in recognising that his charmed life ended with his father's downfall. Not even clemency is on the cards now.
President Abdurrahman Wahid is proving to be tenacious in his crusade to bring the former leader to justice, even after a team of 23 doctors testified that Suharto was too sick to face trial. 'There will be other situations where we have to investigate the participation of the former president,' he said after the court dismissed the case. Mr Wahid made clear yesterday that he will not pardon the pampered son who profited hugely from his position without performing any service for his country.
Hutomo's father can at least claim to have brought benefits to Indonesia in his early days in power, including modernising the country and invigorating the economy. Among the list of offences of which Hutomo stands accused, President Wahid has included the September bomb attack on the Jakarta stock exchange in which 15 people lost their lives.
Police failed to act on Mr Wahid's instructions to arrest Hutomo in connection with the blast, claiming insufficient evidence. But the atrocity is thought to have been carried out by pro-Suharto factions, angered by attempts to bring Suharto to trial, and Jakarta seems destined to violence by one faction or another whichever way the situation develops.
Militant student groups have vowed to bring Mr Wahid down unless Suharto is indicted. But suggestions that jailing Hutomo on a HK$83.7 million land scam is a sop to public anger are almost certainly unfair. Beleaguered he may be, but Mr Wahid has shown himself determined to see justice done. His political future could hinge on that. Only a thorough investigation into past presidential misdeeds, plus efforts to recover billions milked from the state, will defuse social unrest, allowing Indonesia to start healing its wounds under a fair and open regime.
