Bintang to be queried over Idul Fitri cards

Bintang to be queried over Idul Fitri cards

JAKARTA (JP): Rebel politician Sri Bintang Pamungkas is to be
questioned over his Idul Fitri cards in which he advised the
recipients to boycott the election and reject President
Soeharto's reelection.

Attorney General Singgih said yesterday he had ordered
government prosecutors to summon Bintang to account for the
antigovernment messages.

"I have ordered an investigation. Bintang is only one of
several people prosecutors will question," Singgih said before
attending a cabinet meeting.

Singgih declined to specify the exact number of people
government investigators would question and on what grounds. But
he added they had done something "which has legal consequences".

Bintang currently leads the unrecognized Indonesian Democratic
Union Party (PUDI).

Spokesman for the Attorney General's Office Suhartoyo told The
Jakarta Post that Singgih had ordered the questioning of Bintang,
PUDI Secretary-General Julius Usman and Saleh Abdullah, another
PUDI activist.

According to Suhartoyo, Bintang, Julius and Saleh were
interrogated at the Attorney General's Office yesterday. The
three were not available for comment.

Singgih stressed citizens were free to idealize on any subject
but they may not incite others into supporting them.

Bintang is already facing a 34-month-jail sentence for
insulting President Soeharto in April, 1995, during a seminar in
Berlin, Germany.

But he is still a free man pending a final order from the
Supreme Court. He founded PUDI after being sacked from his
legislative post by the Moslem-oriented United Development Party.

The disputed cards contained PUDI's three-point agenda: to
boycott the 1997 election, reject President Soeharto's reelection
and prepare a new order for post-Soeharto 1998.

Bintang also quoted an article from the Koran, that God would
not change a people's fate if they did not want to change.

He sent the cards to numerous people last month, including
Vice President Try Sutrisno, the Armed Forces headquarters, the
attorney general and all cabinet ministers.

Bintang said he did not mean to encourage anyone to echo what
he wants. He said, he was only introducing PUDI's political
agenda to the public.

Armed Forces (ABRI) Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung singled out
Bintang as one of a handful of troublemakers who ignore all the
rules when forwarding their interests.

He said Bintang's case would have to be dealt with in the
courts.

Bintang's Idul Fitri greeting cards have provoked strong
reactions from members of the House of Representatives,
especially those from the ABRI and government-backed Golkar
faction.

The authorities in Bandung announced yesterday they had seized
5,000 anonymous leaflets urging people to boycott the May 29
election.

Bandung military chief Lt. Col. Osaka Meliala said the
authorities were still chasing a student they identified as
Maruli Hendra Utama, whom they believe was behind the pamphlets.

The producers of the leaflets, who identified themselves as
the "Anti-Soeharto Committee", also urged people to demonstrate
against the government at local legislative councils on March 11.

March 11 is observed as the day when Soeharto received his
mandate from then president Soekarno in 1966 to restore order
following an abortive coup by the Indonesian Communist Party.

In Jakarta, National Police Spokesman Lt. Col. Bambang Haryoko
called on the public to send anonymous subversive leaflets to the
authorities.

He said some irresponsible were out to sow hatred against the
government by circulating anonymous leaflets in the hope that
people would support their cause. (pan/04/05)