`David's hand on Harymurti's head'

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A police officer testified on Tuesday against David Tjioe, alias A. Miauw, who is on trial for assaulting Tempo journalists, that they saw the defendant put his hand on the head of the weekly's chief editor Bambang Harymurti.

"I saw David's hand on Bambang Harymurti's head, but I don't know what it was about. I didn't see any wounds or bruises on Bambang's head," the Central Jakarta police detective deputy chief, Eddy Probosusianto, told the Central Jakarta District Court.

David, a supporter of tycoon Tomy Winata, and some 200 other people held a demonstration on March 8 at Tempo's office on Jl. Proklamasi, Central Jakarta, which turned violent. They were protesting an article which implicated Tomy in the fire that gutted Tanah Abang textile market.

Earlier reports said that the protesters later forced Bambang and some journalists to go with them to the Central Jakarta police office to settle the case.

Eddy told the court that he was assigned by his supervisor to prepare a room in the police station, and to talk to reporters who came to cover the incident. Eddy said he was told to explain that Bambang was not kidnapped from the Tempo office to the police station.

Another witness, Yassin, a civilian security officer, said that about 100 people stormed the Tempo office and tried to force their way into the office compound by shaking the gate. When one of the journalists, Ahmad Taufik, went out to meet them, a man in the crowd shouted, suggesting that they set fire to the place, but another man opposed the idea, said the witness.

Yassin said that one of the people pulled Taufik by the collar of his shirt and said something to him, but the witness did not hear what was said.

David and Hidayat Lukman, alias Teddy Uban, who are being tried separately, are charged with violating Article 335 of the Criminal Code on encouraging others to perpetrate acts of violence. The article carries a maximum punishment of one year in jail.

The Association of Independent Journalists (AJI) has filed a lawsuit against the police for doing nothing to stop the assault on the journalists, both at the Tempo office and at the police station.

Tomy, on his part, has reported Bambang and Taufik to the police for alleged defamation and libel.