Bintang won't seek presidential pardon
JAKARTA (JP): Rebel politician Sri Bintang Pamungkas said yesterday he would not seek a presidential pardon after being officially declared a criminal.
Bintang was moved yesterday from a cell at the Attorney General's Office to Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta after losing his appeal against a Supreme Court ruling.
On April 11, the Supreme Court sentenced Bintang, a former legislator of the United Development Party (PPP) to two years and 10 months imprisonment for insulting President Soeharto during a speech in Germany.
Attorney general spokesman, Suhartoyo, said moving Bintang to Cipinang prison meant he had been officially declared a criminal.
Walking out of the Attorney General's Office cell, Bintang said "Alhamdulillah (Thank God), I'm in a good shape. This (being jailed) is a consequence of the struggle," he said.
Before entering the armored car being used to transport him to prison, Bintang, wearing a dark blue suit and striped red and white shirt, said he did not need to seek a pardon from the President.
Bambang Widjojanto, one of his lawyers, told The Jakarta Post yesterday that Bintang and the lawyers still discussed the possibility of a second appeal.
Bintang has also been charged with subversion in connection with activities of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PUDI) which he chairs.
On March 5, Bintang and two other PUDI activists, Julius Usman and Saleh Abdullah, were arrested after having lunch with the attorney general's intelligence chief, Gatot Hendrarto.
Julius and Saleh have been released.
Bintang's lawyers had earlier demanded his release, saying there was not enough evidence to proceed with the case. But the government refuted the claim in a pretrial hearing at the South Jakarta District Court, saying the arrest was based on Criminal Code Procedures.
The Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association denounced the Supreme Court ruling yesterday, saying it was wrong to punish those whose politic stance differed from the government's. (05/imn)