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)