Bintang's lawyers face protests

Bintang's lawyers face protests

JAKARTA (JP): About 100 people staged a noisy demonstration yesterday at the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) in protest against the foundation's defense of a legislator accused of insulting President Soeharto.

The protesters, from the Jakarta Youth Communication Forum, unfurled banners and chanted slogans condemning the foundation for defending legislator Sri Bintang Pamungkas.

Bintang has been under police investigation for his alleged involvement in an anti-Indonesian government demonstration in Germany during President Soeharto's visit there at the beginning of this month.

Bintang, who belongs to the United Development Party, has been questioned by the police as a witness to the demonstration amid claims that he took part in the protest and helped to organize it. Interrogation of the legislator has been temporarily suspended as police seek a sound legal basis for continuing.

"Don't try to breach national unity. We will put our lives on the line," one poster read. Other placards read: "YLBHI, don't defend a traitor to the country", "Viva Indonesian Journalists' Association (PWI)" and "Viva the Pancasila Press, remember nationalism".

Hendardi, the Legal Aid Foundation's Director of Communication and Special Programs, spoke to the protesters, urging them to honor the principle of the presumption of innocence.

The demonstrators accused the foundation of being "unfair" because it was defending someone who, they said, had discredited his country abroad.

"I tried to tell them that they should respect the presumption of innocence and that, like them, we also disliked traitors. I also asked them not to mix up the concepts of nation, state and government," Hendardi told journalists later.

Yesterday's protest was the third at the foundation in two days. On Tuesday two groups of demonstrators from the Jakarta Youth Forum and the Association of Irian Jaya Youths and Students in Jakarta staged similar protests at the foundation's offices.

Yesterday's demonstration demanded that the foundation cease its defense of Bintang.

Hendardi said he had "no problem" with the protests, but regretted Bintang's subjection to "trial by the mob" and "trial by the press."

"But what has really triggered these trials is a 'trial by the government'. Government officials were the first ones to disseminate the accusations among the public -- despite the lack of evidence -- and they were the first ones to actually name Bintang. Even President Soeharto didn't mention a specific name," he said. (pwn)