Court rejects Megawati's lawsuit over PDI dispute
JAKARTA (JP): Ousted leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) Megawati Soekarnoputri met a stumbling block in her legal battle yesterday when a court refused to try her lawsuit against the government and her political foes.
Presiding Judge I Gde Ketut Sukarata of the Central Jakarta District Court said it had no jurisdiction to try the case.
"The court agrees with all the arguments put forward by the defendants that it does not have the authority to hear the case," Sukarata said.
"It (the case) is purely the internal affairs of PDI. Any party dispute should be settled at its next congress in 1998," Sukarata added.
Megawati's supporters in the packed courtroom cheered when R.O. Tambunan, coordinator of Megawati's team of lawyers, immediately said he would appeal.
"This is a very weak verdict. It doesn't have any legal basis," Tambunan told reporters after the hearing was over.
Hundreds of riot police and troops, backed by guard dogs, an armored car with a water cannon and a fire engine, stood around and in the court compound ready to prevent any violence.
However, witnesses said there were no visible signs of tension. Police dispersed a crowd of about 200 people waiting outside the court.
Megawati, the eldest daughter of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno, had sued the government and the military over a party rebel congress in the North Sumatra capital of Medan in June which dismissed her from the party leadership. The congress elected Soerjadi as the new PDI chairman.
She named Soerjadi and the congress' organizers, Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M., Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung and National Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dibyo Widodo as defendants.
Yogie's lawyers had argued that the case was an internal party affair and the court had no jurisdiction to hear it.
Feisal and Dibyo's lawyers had argued that the Armed Forces and police were involved in the Medan congress only to ensure security. "It is the officers' duty to guard large gatherings," one of the lawyers said.
Megawati and her allies have refused to recognize Soerjadi as party chairman or any other results of the congress. Megawati has also filed a lawsuit against the government and the General Elections Institute for rejecting her list of candidates for next year's general election.
At the moment, she is also suing the mayor of East Jakarta for closing down her new headquarters in Condet subdistrict, East Jakarta on the grounds that it violated residential zoning restrictions.
The government now recognizes Soerjadi as the party's legitimate leader.
Megawati was not present at the hearing yesterday, though she made a rare appearance at the same court Wednesday to attend the trial of 64 of her supporters charged with causing damage and injury during the July 27 riots.
On that day, hundreds of Soerjadi's supporters forcibly took over the PDI headquarters from Megawati's loyalists. Mass rioting erupted afterward, leaving at least five dead and over 100 others injured.
Megawati filed the lawsuits against the government and her rivals in July. Court hearings, however, had repeatedly been postponed for various reasons, including that of the presiding judge's toothache.
In a related development, 26 activists from PDI's Bekasi branch filed a lawsuit yesterday against two of Soerjadi's supporters who attended the Medan congress.
"Totok Sugianto and Prawoto, respectively deputy chairman and secretary of the party's Bekasi branch, had illegally attended the congress without any recommendation from local party members," the plaintiffs' lawyer, Wannen Simamora, told the Bekasi court judges, led by Pieter Purba.
The chairman of the local party's branch, Tony Bener Ambarita, who is a loyalist of Megawati, told the press his faction remained the legitimate branch leader because it had the recognition of 18 out of 22 district party offices. (imn/26/kod)
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