Court rejects Bintang's lawsuit against President

Court rejects Bintang's lawsuit against President

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta State Administrative Court rejected yesterday a lawsuit filed by controversial politician Sri Bintang Pamungkas against President Soeharto for removing him from the House of Representatives (DPR) last May.

"The Jakarta State Administrative Court does not have the authority to handle the case because the presidential decree was not an administrative decision," deputy chief of the court, Sudarto Radyo Suwarno, who presided over the hearing, said.

Bintang filed the lawsuit in August, asking the court to overrule President Soeharto's decree approving the dismissal from the House and demanding that he be reinstated as a House member.

He lost his seat in the House at the instigation of his own faction, the United Development Party (PPP).

His party's leaders decided that Bintang's outspokenness, one of the chief characteristics for which he was recruited during the 1992 election, was increasingly becoming a liability as he was speaking out strongly against the government and the Armed Forces, transgressing the party's official line.

In May, President Soeharto issued the decree that led to Bintang's formal dismissal from the House.

Judge Sudarto said that, although the presidential decree was made in a written format, it was not considered an administrative decision.

He cited article 1 of the Law No. 5/1986 on State Administrative Court, which stipulates that an administrative decision would only deal with government affairs.

The Presidential decree was issued as an implementation of a mandate given by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

"The mandate to withdraw a House member is clearly stipulated in the decrees of the MPR," he said.

Bintang and his lawyers have argued that since a legislator was elected by the people, no other power has the authority to remove him or her and that Soeharto's decree was therefore unconstitutional.

The government has argued that a legislator owes his or her seat, and allegiance, to the political party which had allocated the seats, and not to any particular constituent, such as the public.

Bintang yesterday was accompanied by lawyers from the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation: Adnan Buyung Nasution, Soekardjo Adidjojo, Bambang Widjojanto, Nur Amalia, and Waskito Adiribowo. The lawyers representing the head of state were H.V.A. Lumempouw, H.M. Adenan, and Irdan Dahlan.

Bintang's lawyers immediately after hearing the verdict announced that they would be filing an appeal to the Jakarta State Administrative High Court within 14 days, the time limit given under the Criminal Code Procedures (KUHAP).

"We disagree with the grounds given by the judges' panel. We'd like to file an appeal," Buyung said. "The MPR decrees are against the 1945 Constitution," he said.

He pointed out that article 4 of the 1945 Constitution stipulates that the President, though invested with executive power, is bound by the Constitution.

The hearing is one of the three court battles Bintang is waging against the government.

He has filed another lawsuit at the Jakarta State Administrative Court demanding that the court order the government to lift an overseas travel ban.

The ban was issued by the Attorney General.

Bintang is also being tried in the Central Jakarta District Court on charges of insulting President Soeharto during one of his lectures before Indonesian students in April in Germany. The lectures were made almost at the same time the President's official visit to the country.

If found guilty, he could be sentenced to a maximum of six years imprisonment.(imn)