AUGUST 7, 2001

The things these racing people get up to...

IT is not long ago that Tommy Suharto was the man trying to promote the idea of a Grand Prix in Indonesia. He was head of the country's national sporting authority and an active racer in his own right.

IT is not long ago that Tommy Suharto was the man trying to promote the idea of a Grand Prix in Indonesia. He was head of the country's national sporting authority and an active racer in his own right. Now Suharto is on the run from the Indonesian authorities and this week has been accused of masterminding a bombing campaign and of ordering the assassination of a senior judge, who sentenced him to 18 months in jail a year ago on corruption charges.

Supreme Court judge Syaifuddin Kartasasmita was gunned down recently in Jakarta and police this week arrested two men, soon after police found explosives and documents which linked Suharto to the attacks.

The police have come under severe criticism for their failure to catch the high-profile Suharto who appears to be trying to turn himself into a Robin Hood-like figure, travelling around the country using a variety of different disguises and trying to stir up resistance to the new regime. Suharto's father was forced out of office in 1998 amid riots and upheaval which derived from the Suharto regime's reputation for corruption. Although attempts have been made to prosecute other members of the Suharto Family, Tommy is the only one to date to have received a prison sentence.