Baramuli prefers legal settlement to dispute

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)