Bintang won't take case to world body

Bintang won't take case to world body

JAKARTA (JP): Former legislator and staunch government critic
Sri Bintang Pamungkas denied yesterday that he had ever planned
to lodge a complaint with the International Human Rights
Commission in Geneva, Switzerland.

"I have never intended or tried to bring my case to an
international body, such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union or Sub-
Commission on Human Rights in Geneva," Bintang told journalists
after a meeting with members of Indonesia's National Commission
on Human Rights.

The rights issue in question was the government's move to bar
Bintang from going abroad and from speaking in public.

A former member of the House of Representatives representing
the Moslem-based United Development Party, Bintang was dismissed
from his post following allegations that he had taken part in a
demonstration against President Soeharto in Dresden while the
head of state was visiting Germany in April.

Bintang was received yesterday by Commissioners Bambang W.
Soeharto, Charles Himawan and Meriam Budiarjo.

Bintang's lawyer, Adnan Buyung Nasution, said on Monday that
if the National Commission could not provide relief in the case
of his client he would refer it to the International Human Rights
Commission. (03)