Bintang dismisses taped evidence

Bintang dismisses taped evidence

JAKARTA (JP): Sri Bintang Pamungkas denied it was his voice on a recording used by prosecutors to prove that he had insulted President Soeharto during a lecture he gave at a German university last April.

"I deny making any of the recorded statements. The speaker's voice resembles mine but it is not mine," the controversial politician told the judges during a hearing on Wednesday.

The Central Jakarta District Court heard testimony from Bintang, who is accused by government prosecutors of calling President Soeharto, and his predecessor Sukarno, dictators and violators of the 1945 Constitution. Bintang allegedly made the remarks during a seminar at the Technische Universitaet in Berlin.

"With current technology, it's possible to manipulate the content and quality of a tape recording," he said.

The government prosecutors did not play the recording during yesterday's session. However, previous witnesses, including the seminar's organizers, have either testified that Bintang did not make the remarks or that they could not recognize the voice in the recording as Bintang's.

"How can we say that it is Bintang's voice if the recording cannot even be heard clearly," one of the witnesses said.

Bintang and his lawyers have, from the outset, rejected the use of the recording as evidence. "The practice is not accepted in our court system," one of the lawyers said.

The lawyers yesterday told the prosecutors that the dossiers on Bintang contained flaws.

"The prosecutors have accused our client of defaming President Soeharto during the seminar," said Adnan Buyung Nasution, one of the lawyers. "Then how come the dossiers also include the police investigators' summary of inquiries on several witnesses over a series of demonstration, which occurred at almost the same time as the President's visit to Germany?"

Buyung brought up the question after the presiding judge, Syoffinan Sumantri, interrupted him while he was questioning Bintang over his alleged role in the demonstrations. The judge said Buyung's line of questioning was not relevant and told him to focus on the seminar.

R. Dwiyanto Prihartono, another of Bintang's lawyers, told The Jakarta Post that more than 50 percent of the dossiers submitted by the prosecutors were about the demonstrations.

The trial was adjourned until next Wednesday, when two key witnesses, Sri Basuki and Sunarto, are scheduled to testify in court.

The two people were among the many bright Indonesian bright students sent to study abroad in the 1960s by then president Sukarno as part of his massive campaign to redress the country's underdevelopment. (imn)