Arifin demands immediate settlement of his case

JAKARTA (JP): Oil tycoon Arifin Panigoro, currently at the center of an alleged conspiracy to disrupt national stability, demanded yesterday the immediate settlement of his case.

Arifin said the police investigation into a limited discussion, held last month by the Center for Strategy and Policy Studies (PPSK) in Yogyakarta and during which he allegedly voiced subversive intentions, had adversely affected his activities and business credibility.

"To be honest, the police investigation has made me nervous," he said at a one-and-a-half-hour media conference. "And my business partners will probably review their contract agreements with me."

"I'd rather quit talking about the discussion with the PPSK, and concentrate on writing my paper on efforts to help settle the monetary crisis through maximization of the country's oil and gas production and internationalization of our oil exploration skill and technology."

Arifin, owner of oil company Medco Energi Corporation which he said was the world's seventh largest, was invited to the PPSK discussion at the Radisson Hotel in Yogyakarta on Feb. 5.

Seventeen other participants took part in the discussion, including Amien Rais, the PPSK chairman and also chairman of the 28-million-strong Muhammadiyah Moslem organization.

The meeting, according to a report by one of its participants Sofian Effendi, discussed efforts to mobilize one million people on the streets of Jakarta on March 1, the first day of the five- yearly General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

The Assembly ultimately reelected President Soeharto for a seventh consecutive term, appointed B.J. Habibie vice president and endorsed the 1998/2003 State Policy Guidelines.

The PPSK meeting participants reportedly denounced the government and discussed efforts to disrupt the national stability and order.

Arifin categorically denied the allegation, as did another participant, political observer Afan Gaffar, who has also been questioned by the police.

Arifin said it was merely bad timing that he attended the meeting just as the country was preparing for the General Session.

He said he believed he would not have found himself under such pressure had the discussion been held at a less politically charged time.

"I came there (to the discussion) at the wrong time," he said.

Todung Mulya Lubis, Arifin's legal counselor, said there was no article in the Criminal Code banning a person from attending a discussion.

"To attend a discussion, especially such a constructive one, or to talk and share opinions during the discussion, is not a crime," he said.

Police opened an investigation into the meeting after receiving a copy of Sofian's report to then state minister of research and technology, B.J. Habibie.

If Arifin is found guilty of denouncing the government he faces a maximum penalty of seven years' imprisonment. Other participants in the meeting have yet to be charged with any crime.

Afan is planning to file a lawsuit against Sofian.

Meanwhile, Amien Rais said in Yogyakarta yesterday that there must have been a misunderstanding by some parties about the content of the discussion.

"Chief of the Armed Forces Intelligence Agency Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim has told me to be more accurate when preparing concepts and organizing discussions in the future," he told the media after a meeting with the ABRI chief of sociopolitical affairs, Lt. Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Yudhoyono was in Yogyakarta for a series of dialogs with local academicians and public figures to discuss solutions to the monetary crisis. (imn/23)