Baramuli prefers legal settlement to dispute
JAKARTA (JP): A.A. Baramuli, chairman of the Supreme Advisory Council, has said he will not agree to an out-of-court settlement to his dispute with government critics Ali Sadikin and Kemal Idris.
Defamation charges leveled against him by the two, who are members of the opposition group National Front, should be handled only through the legal system, Baramuli told a delegation of members of the Solidarity of Eastern Indonesia at his office on Thursday.
The meeting was also attended by Baramuli's deputies, including Sularso Sopater, who is also chairman of the Indonesian Communion of Churches, Putu Soekreta Soeranta, who is chairman of the Indonesian Hindu Dharma Council, and Siti Hartati Murdaya, who chairs the Buddhist Council.
After the meeting, Baramuli shrugged off Ali and Kemal's demand that he apologize for statements that the two found offensive.
Last week the two filed a complaint with the police over Baramuli's statements, reported in the Jakarta-based Suara Karya and Palu-based Mercusuar dailies.
Baramuli was reported to have said that had Kemal, Ali and the other members of the National Front had high moral standards, they would have admitted to having launched an attack against the government. Baramuli at the time was commenting on the group's campaign in November to set up a transitional government, which the authorities then treated as treason.
Legal proceedings were started on 17 people, including Ali and Kemal, who in November signed a declaration that President B.J. Habibie's government was not legitimate and should be replaced by a transitional government.
Ali and Kemal at that time said Baramuli had stepped beyond his bounds and violated the principle of presumption of innocence. They also said Baramuli had defamed them.
Baramuli insisted on Thursday that the remarks were part of his explanation in a discussion in Central Sulawesi about what constituted treason.
"I was once a chief prosecutor in eastern Indonesia, so it would be impossible for me to insult people. The court will determine the truth of Ali and Kemal's intention to subvert the country," he added.
Frans Hendra Winarta, one of Ali and Kemal's legal advisors, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that he "supported" Baramuli's stance to settle the dispute in court.
"Allowing the case to develop into polemics in the media will threaten the nation with disintegration," he said, adding that all parties had to uphold the supremacy of the law.
"Pros and cons in a public case are usual. If we (settle) out of court, then it will be a bad precedent, in terms of the supremacy of the law, in the future," he added.
The media have been reporting closely the dispute between Baramuli and Ali's group. The war of words was evident in reports carried by some newspapers. The Merdeka daily, had the following headline Kemal: Baramuli is forgiven if he kisses my foot, while Media Indonesia wrote Kemal, Ali demand Rp 100 billion from Baramuli for defamation.
The delegation of the Solidarity of Eastern Indonesia, who visited Baramuli on Thursday, delivered a statement signed by 54 people saying that Ali and Kemal have made "groundless, emotional, immoral" statements regarding Baramuli which they said had also insulted eastern Indonesians. (01)