Tommy Suharto, the jailed younger son of former Indonesian President Suharto, said on Thursday that he would not appeal against his jail sentence.

Tommy, also known as Hutomo Mandala Putra, was jailed for 15 years last Friday for masterminding the murder of a Supreme Court judge and on other charges.

I will find other legal efforts

Tommy Suharto

His decision not to appeal came as a surprise.

Tommy, 40, told a news conference at his Jakarta jail: "Public opinion has formed to create hatred against me. It is the work of individuals or groups who want to destroy me and my family for political reasons.

"Considering the situation which is disadvantageous for me as a seeker of justice, with a heavy heart I have decided to let the time for the appeal pass by.

Under Indonesian law, appeals have to be lodged within a week of the judgement.

Symbol of past

Tommy's playboy lifestyle and reported wealth came to symbolise for many Indonesians all that was wrong with the Suharto years.

The Indonesian media has reported popular anger that his sentence was not harsher, and also that he was receiving preferential treatment inside a three-roomed cell in Jakarta's Cipinang jail.

But others have raised the hope that the judgement signalled a new independence for the Indonesian judiciary, which a UN investigator recently described as the worst in the world.

'Appeal jeopardised'

The BBC's Richard Galpin in Jakarta said Tommy Suharto explained to the news conference why he would not appeal to the Supreme Court.

He said that the head of the appeal court had already told journalists on Tuesday that the verdict was in keeping with the law.

Tommy Suharto bitterly criticised this intervention, saying it was premature and prejudicial.

However, he did not rule out other approaches.

"I will find other legal efforts, taking into account the political situation in the country," he said, without elaborating.

Tommy Suharto was found guilty last Friday of ordering the murder of Supreme Court judge Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, illegal weapons possession and fleeing from justice.

He did not attend the sentencing, after his lawyers said he was ill.