C. Java councillor faces drug use charges

Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Semarang

The Semarang District Court opened the trial on Tuesday of Sudiharto Saka, a 38-year-old member of the Central Java legislative council, on charges of consuming an illegal drug.

It was the first time that a councillor has been put on trial for drugs in the province.

"It's a normal trial, so don't politicize it if you are covering this event," presiding judge Sri Rahayu Sundari told the court.

She was responding to the defendant's request, which he made several times during the hearing, that reports on the drug case not be politicized.

The defendant admitted taking an ecstasy pill, claiming he was distressed. He refused to further elaborate but said he was afraid of his case being politicized by the media.

Prosecutor Endang Rachmawati said Saka was found to have used the illegal drug following a police raid on the Zodiak Discotheque in Tegal, Central Java, on Aug. 10.

The defendant said he got the pill from a man identified only as Joni the day before his arrest, she said.

Endang said a urine test on Saka showed that it contained Methylenedioxymeth Amphetamine (MDMA), a banned chemical substance.

"The defendant is charged with violating Article 59 (1) of Law No. 5/1997 on psychotropic substances, and alternatively with Article 60 (5) of Law No. 5/1997," she told the trial.

The charge carries a minimum sentence of four years in prison.

Also present in court was Endah Rosiani, 20, who was with Saka in the disco. "The pill was divided into two pieces by Pak Saka. I took one piece," she said.

The allegations against Saka, who is a member of the council's Commission A from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), surfaced around three weeks after the gubernatorial election in Central Java on July. 24.

The PDI Perjuangan was at the time split into factions -- one supporting Mardianto and another backing the chairman of its provincial chapter, Mardijo.