Bintang to be questioned over Dresden incident

Bintang to be questioned over Dresden incident

JAKARTA (JP): Police headquarters will summon legislator Sri
Bintang Pamungkas tomorrow for questioning on his alleged role in
a recent spate of anti-Indonesian government demonstrations in
Germany.

Bintang told The Jakarta Post by telephone last night that he
received a copy of the letter on Saturday, in which the police
asked him to come to their headquarters tomorrow at 10 a.m.

"I have not consulted with my lawyers," he said, adding that
he received the letter from the police when he attended a wedding
party in the Central Java ancient city of Surakarta.

The legislator from the Moslem-oriented United Development
Party (PPP), which will dismiss him on charges of offending
cabinet ministers at hearings, said he considered having lawyers
from the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute.

Spokesman for the Attorney General Office Basrief Arief
confirmed Saturday that President Soeharto had approved
investigation of Bintang.

Under Indonesian laws, the authorities cannot question a
legislator without prior written approval from the President.

Bintang, along chief editor of the banned Tempo magazine
Goenawan Mohamad and human rights activist Yeni Rosa Damayanti,
is facing charges of masterminding anti-Indonesian government
demonstrations when President Soeharto was on an official visit
to Germany early this month.

Indonesian authorities also charge that the three provided
input for the foreign demonstrators.

Bintang reiterated his denial yesterday of any involvement in
the protests, saying that what he did during his stay in Germany
was giving lectures on Indonesian economics and industry in
connection with the Hannover Fair, that Soeharto also attended.

"In those academic forums, I said that Indonesian industries
are inefficient," he said. "Whether the attending academics used
my information as input, for whatever purposes, is their right."

State Minister for Research and Technology B.J. Habibie
asserted that although Soeharto's German visit was marred with
demonstrations, Jakarta-Bonn relations were not affected.

"The demonstration had nothing to do with German-Indonesia
relations," Habibie, who played a key role in Indonesia's
participation in the Hannover Fair, said.

Habibie, who accompanied Soeharto during the German visit,
said he heard of rumors that the demonstrations were masterminded
by certain organizations, which paid participant about US$50
each.

"I saw in the crowd one Indonesian, possibly from East Timor,
who had (Dutch soccer star) Ruud Gullit's hair style. He was the
most aggressive, yelling at our entourage," he said, reported
Antara.

He said he was sure that a night demonstration in Kemphinski,
by 32 "drunken people wearing punk rockers' accessories", was
backed by the same group.

"Our consul in Munich was told by the protesters that they
were paid more because they did it at night," he said.

Denial

Goenawan also reiterated that he knew nothing about the
demonstrations and that his German visit had nothing to do with
them.

"I knew about the demonstrations when I read a News Strait
Times in Singapore on April 2, 1995," he said.

He said that one of those with whom he met was Eva Philipps, a
former consultant of the LP3S, an Indonesian non-government
organization on social and economic studies. "We are as close as
family."

He said that besides visiting several foundations, and old
friends, he also spoke in a film discussion organized by the
Goethe Institute.

He left Germany on March 18, 1995, for London, the Netherlands
and France.

He said he met with the editor of an art magazine and attended
a discussion on pluralism of Moslem culture at the Institute du
Monde Arab in Paris on March 27. "Also attending the discussion
were Dr. Tuty Heraty and Pia Alisjahbana."

He acknowledged that he spoke on the recent bannings of Tempo,
DeTIK and Editor, as well as the discharging of journalists in
Jakarta, in an interview with a Dutch radio when visiting the
Netherlands.

"Am I wrong if I condemn the banning of magazines and the
discharging of journalists, including myself. I do so at home,
too," he said.

He insisted that he never tarnished Indonesia's image nor
discredited the government during his European visit.

He said he did not meet with legislator Sri Bintang Pamungkas,
nor Yeni Rosa Damayanti, in Germany.

Yeni, a student and an activist of the Pijar Foundation, could
not be reached for comment. (imn/rms/pan)