Arifin demands immediate settlement of his case
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)