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)