Closed-door meeting at Ministry of Justice

Closed-door meeting at Ministry of Justice

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces
Commander Gen. Wiranto, Minister of Justice Muladi, Attorney
General A.M. Ghalib and deputy chief of the National Police Lt.
Gen. Nana Permana held a closed meeting at the Ministry of
Justice on Wednesday, and shunned questions from reporters who
asked about the nature of their gathering.

The four met for three hours at the Ministry of Justice, but
said almost nothing when asked if they had discussed accusations
of treason the government has leveled at a group of government
critics.

"The meeting was for silaturahmi (to strengthen brotherly
ties) because this is the fasting month," Wiranto eventually told
reporters hounding him for a comment.

Ghalib said only that the meeting had focused on efforts to
minimize crime along roads traversing the north coast of Java.

Muladi refused to comment at all. "I'm sorry. There is no news
today because the meeting was a closed one," he said.

Antara quoted reliable sources at the ministry as saying the
four met to discuss charges of treason that the government has
brought against former Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin and Lt. Gen.
(ret) Kemal Idris, who is a former chief of the Army's Strategic
Reserve Command (Kostrad).

The two were among several opposition political figures
including Sri Bintang Pamungkas who were questioned by police
after the bloody clash between students and security personnel at
the Semanggi cloverleaf in Jakarta last November.

Their questioning revolved around a communique they released
shortly before the tragedy in which they called for President
B.J. Habibie's resignation and the dissolution of his
administration.

Nana said police were still gathering evidence needed to
proceed with the charges against Kemal and his colleagues. (rms)