Celebrity thugs and murderers in prison and on TV, Enrico Guterres, Theo Toemion, and the “lovely” Lidya Pratiwi.

Metro TV and Murder

Sunday afternoon we watched Kick Andy, whose eponymous compere appeared to be broadcasting from within prison walls. (I say appeared because we missed the start, having enjoyed a programme on Trans 7 about fishing!)

Kick Andy.

I at once recognised the inimitable features of Enrico Guterres, sometime leader of a pro-integration militia which killed numerous people in East Timor. He was clearly unrepentant of the crimes that had him confined behind bars, by an Indonesian Court, of course.

Enrico Guterres.

Indonesian justice is notoriously lax on evil perpetrated by those who may command sympathy among the extensive primitive element of the populace (witness the sentences meted out to the scum who took part in the beheading of three schoolgirls whose sin was to worship God in a different manner from the majority population – not even a life sentence, when some of us surely agree that a dose of torture before death might just about be fair, especially when compared to the execution of three Christians convicted of ‘terrorist’ crimes) so it is reasonable to assume that Gutierrez had his day in court and failed to convince the judges of any degree of innocence.

Yet here’s the grinning Andy giving this piece of trash a platform to justify his outrages. And there too was an audience replete with people in uniform, presumably prison staff, plus, it looked like, various convicts and a collection of largely uncritical “others”. Laughter and applause punctuated the ghastly proceedings.

Worse was to come – maybe also had already been, for, as I say, I missed the beginning.

Remember that sleazy thug Theo Toemion, the former Capital Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chief who ran amok at a Jakarta International School sports event, after his child failed to do as well as TT thought he ought. Neither the sex nor age of victims deterred his courageous onslaught, and he should have been jailed for that, but somehow it all went quiet. (Maybe some of you know what happened behind the scenes to kill that story -I’d be fascinated to hear).

Theo F. Toemion.

Anyway, Toemion finally got a small measure of his rightful deserts when sentenced for “financial irregularities”, and he looks just as well-fed, and just as scruffy, as before he went to prison. As indeed did Guterres. These “personalities” must have access to resources not available to the wretches we see on other prison documentaries!

We watched in fascination as Andy duly promoted a book by TT. He ripped off plenty on the outside, and now Metro TV sees fit to help him sell his story? What is going on?

Another notable was spotted by my other half, whose constant interest in celebrity TV enabled her to identify the lovely Lydia Pratiwi, jailed a year or so back for involvement in a murder. I have to admit that if she escaped, I’d be tempted to give her refuge, but that simply confirms how well these inmates are preserving their looks and health in an environment which appears to be far from healthy for most convicts.

Lidya Pratiwi.

Maybe she too had her chance to broadcast her views, but if so I was too busy watching the fish being caught on Trans7 – but that hardly matters.

What is important is Metro’s peculiar idea of what a prison probe should amount to. My old bete noire, the Jakarta Post, last year reported that several military officers sentenced for abuses never even got locked up, and others allowed to spend a minimal time in a cushy billet.

Why hasn’t Metro done an in-depth report on that, or maybe Andy could invite some legal luminaries onto his show and ask some serious questions, instead of bandying “wit” with those who ought to be treated as social lepers rather than lionised.