Bintang a suspect in German protests
Bintang a suspect in German protests
JAKARTA (JP): Controversial member of the House of Representatives Sri Bintang Pamungkas has been formally named as a suspect in the police investigation into anti-government protests in Germany last month, Attorney General Singgih said yesterday.
Singgih told reporters that the fact that Bintang had now been implicated in a criminal case was sufficient reason for the government to bar him from leaving the country.
Bintang's change of status from witness to suspect follows two questioning sessions with police last month. The legislator was in Germany at the same time that demonstrations against Indonesia were held during a visit by President Soeharto to that country.
The suggestion that a number of Indonesians took part in the demonstrations stirred anger among officials and politicians here, with Soeharto calling such people "irrational", while others called them "traitors".
Bintang was told this week that he could not leave the country because of the investigation. He said on Monday that he wanted to go to the United States to attend the graduation ceremony of his daughter later this month.
Bintang has denied taking part in the demonstrations, saying that he was merely an onlooker at the protest in Hannover. He said that he was in Germany for a series of speaking engagements.
The chief spokesman for the National Police, Brig. Gen. I Ketut Ratta, told Antara yesterday that Bintang would be summoned for further questioning now that he had been named as a suspect.
The PPP legislator is, so far, the only person to have been questioned in relation to the protests in Germany. The military has named senior journalist Goenawan Mohamad and human rights activist Yenni Rosa Damayanti as being among those who took part, "directly or indirectly," in the protests.
Separately, Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono denied recent press reports that President Soeharto had approved a request by the PPP faction that Bintang be removed from the House of Representatives.
Moerdiono said there were a number of procedural steps that the President had yet to take, including consulting with a number of people and agencies, before he approved the dismissal.
PPP chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum was quoted as announcing on Sunday that Bintang's dismissal had already been approved by the President.
Moerdiono said that Bintang's dismissal was not connected with the investigation concerning the legislator's alleged involvement in the German protests. (emb)