Minister joins campaign to sue columnist Manai<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Public Housing Akbar Tanjung
\nhas joined fellow former student leaders who helped topple
\npresident Sukarno in 1966 in their plan to sue columnist Manai
\nSophiaan for slander.<\/p>\n
"We are preparing a lawsuit against Manai," Akbar, who was
\npart of that student movement in the 1960s, announced yesterday.<\/p>\n
"Our first step is to formally file our complaint against
\nManai with the Jakarta police next week," said Jusril Jusan, who
\nis Akbar's peer and chairman of the Ikatan Keluarga Besar Laskar
\nAmpera Arief Rachman Hakim, an association of student activists
\nin the mid-1960s.<\/p>\n
The former activists used the press briefing to refute Manai's
\nallegations that they were paid by the American Central
\nIntelligence Agency (CIA) to demonstrate against Sukarno.<\/p>\n
Akbar, who began his political career as a student activist,
\nasserted that the street demonstrations in the chaotic year of
\n1966 were "spontaneous and pure".<\/p>\n
He said they were motivated only by the wish to defend the
\nstate ideology Pancasila from communism which at the time had
\nbegun to gain a foothold here.<\/p>\n
The former activists named at least three subjects in Manai's
\nnew book about Sukarno, entitled Kehormatan Bagi yang Berhak
\n(Honor for the One Who Deserves It), who they claim tarnished
\ntheir reputation, the first of which is Manai's allegation that
\nthe CIA paid them.<\/p>\n
The two other points are Manai's accusations that their yellow
\njackets, the color of the prestigious University of Indonesia
\nwere "made in Hawaii" and that the students' demonstrations were
\n"mere parades".<\/p>\n
They said they were not going to raise questions on whether
\nManai was justified in exempting Sukarno from involvement with
\nthe communists, but merely to restore their reputation.<\/p>\n
They admitted to not having read the book, having seen the
\nallegations in an interview Manai gave to Tiara magazine.<\/p>\n
Akbar said, however, that what he found most abhorrent in
\nManai's book was the assertion that the Sept. 30, 1965 abortive
\ncoup attempt by the now outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI)
\nwas only a preemptive measure against "another political force
\nplanning to topple the regime".<\/p>\n
Public apology<\/p>\n
"This (book) is an effort to distort history," Akbar said.
\n"The truth is that Bung Karno disregarded our demand to outlaw
\nPKI. He said the communist rebellion was an ordinary incident; a
\nmere ripple in the vast ocean of revolution."<\/p>\n
"Bung Karno even said that sometimes revolution preys on
\nitself," he said. The book, he added, can only be written by
\nsomebody who wanted to "blur history".<\/p>\n
The former student activists, however, appeared to have been
\nat odds with one another. Pressed by reporters, Akbar said the
\nactivists' anger would be appeased if Manai made a public
\napology.<\/p>\n
Fahmi Idris and Jusril, however, said they would still press
\ncharges against Manai even if the 80-year-old former diplomat
\napologizes. They hotly denied a reporter's provocative suggestion
\nthat the activists' true motive for their harsh reaction against
\nManai was political leverage.<\/p>\n
The press conference took an interesting twist when another
\nformer activist, Eki Syachruddin, said that Manai had made his
\nstatements about the yellow jackets off the record.<\/p>\n
"I am ready to hold a dialog with the former student
\nactivists, but if they want to sue me, then let's not hold any
\ndiscussions at all," Manai was quoted as saying by Eki.<\/p>\n
Manai himself appears to be prepared to meet his critics in
\ncourt. Last week, the former ambassador to Moscow between 1964
\nand 1967 appointed three lawyers to represent him should these
\nstudent organizations go ahead with the planned lawsuit.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Vice President Try Sutrisno urged yesterday that
\nIndonesia let the dead rest in peace, saying all parties should
\nrefrain from bringing up questions of a dead person's deeds.<\/p>\n
"Let's speak of nothing but the good deeds of the dead," Try
\ntold Jusril Jusan who met with him to report about the plan of
\nthe latter's organization to hold a congress next week. President
\nSoeharto is scheduled to inaugurate the congress on Oct. 12.<\/p>\n
Try's remarks appeared to be directed at preventing the
\nrevival of the debate on whether or not Sukarno was involved in
\nthe PKI plot in 1965.<\/p>\n
Sukarno was toppled in 1967 and died in official disgrace
\nthree years later. His name was reinstated when the government of
\nPresident Soeharto proclaimed him a national hero in the mid-
\n1980s. (swe)<\/p>",
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