Cleric's suit against S'pore rejected

JAKARTA: The South Jakarta District Court rejected on Thursday a Rp 1 trillion libel suit filed by cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir against the Singaporean ambassador over Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew's remarks in an embassy press release accusing the plaintiff of having links to international terrorism.

Presiding judge Zoeber Djajadi said that the court could feel "the arrogance of the accused" which had irritated the Indonesian Muslim community.

The accused and his lawyers had ignored a court summons, and did not attend the trial since the first hearing was held last month.

However, as Indonesia has ratified the 1961 Vienna Covenant on diplomatic immunity, Judge Zoeber said, the court could not accept the suit.

The suit was also rejected due to its obscurity.

After the hearing, the accused's lawyer, M. Mahendradatta, said they would not appeal, but would file a class action suit instead.

The hearing was attended by some 600 members of the militant Front for the Surakarta Islam Defenders and other Muslim groups. They later staged a rally outside the Singaporean Embassy on Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said, Kuningan, South Jakarta. -- JP