Bintang's witness flown in from Germany

Bintang's witness flown in from Germany

JAKARTA (JP): A witness flown in from Germany to testify for
Sri Bintang Pamungkas denied in court yesterday that the
outspoken politician called Sukarno and Soeharto "dictators."

Bintang is charged with defaming President Soeharto during a
lecture in Berlin last year. As a guest speaker at Techniche
Universitaet, Bintang allegedly accused the President of having
deviated from the national constitution.

"By mentioning Sukarno and Soeharto in the discussion, Sri
Bintang was referring to systems of government, not to the
persons themselves," testified Sunarto, who attended the lecture
in Germany.

He added, however, that the word "dictator" was used in an
open discussion held after the lecture.

An earlier witness testified that Sunarto was the first to
mention the word "dictator" in the discussion.

In his indictment in November, prosecutor Sitinjak based his
accusations against Bintang on a cassette believed to contain a
recording of the lecture.

The defendant and several witnesses complained of the low
quality of the recording.

"It is likely that the statement mentioned is mine but
everything seems to have been taken out of context," Sunarto said
after hearing the prosecutor read the lecture transcript.

The question-and-answer meeting had nothing to do with
"dictators" as such, added Sunarto, 56 and a resident of Germany
since 1962..

The court expected Sri Basuki, another witness, to testify on
behalf of Bintang. However, she failed to leave Germany, citing
health problems and the death of her husband.

Moments after the trial, a group from the Communication Forum
of Indonesian Ex-Servicemen's Children, protested with shouts and
posters against Sunarto and Bintang.

"Beware of the extremist witness flown in to defend the
traitor," shouted the group, which calls itself the "Red and
White Youth" group.

Sunarto was apparently the target of the youths for his
staunch support of President Sukarno's government while studying
in Germany.

When the communists staged a coup attempt here in 1965,
Sunarto was granted protection by the Democratic Republic of
Germany.

As Sunarto and Sri Bintang left the court in a car, young
supporters of the United Development Party, which Bintang
represented in the House until he was recalled last year, shouted
in his support and chanted "Allahu akbar" (God is Great).
(16/imn)