Defendant implicates cop in defamation of Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): A student being tried here yesterday for defaming President Soeharto accused a police witness of taking part in the recent student demonstration by chanting strong- worded statements against the government, apparently in an effort to incriminate the demonstrators.

Yeni Damayanti told members of the Central Jakarta District Court that Tahan Marpaung, a member of the investigation unit at the Central Jakarta Police Precinct, had intentionally chanted slogans attacking the government and the legislative council to create the impression that those words were the students'. Marpaung was on plain-clothes duty during the Dec. 14 protest rally in front of the House of Representatives (DPR).

"I am very surprised to see this man appear as witness in this trial," she told the court. "I thought he was one of the students when I saw him at the demonstration. I saw him chanting the slogans. Therefore, he mixed with us in order to slander us," she said.

She said that the witness scrambled with the other students and chanted phrases accusing the DPR members of doing nothing but fulfilling their own interests.

"He was the provoker!" said Yeni, adding that there could no longer be any guarantee that the strong-worded slogans that were voiced in the demonstration were purely chanted by the students.

Marpaung, who refused to respond to the defendant's statement, appeared in the hearing of the group of four students who are accused of defaming the President by reading poems during the rally.

There are three trials being held for the 21 students who were arrested for staging a demonstration demanding that the People's Consultative Assembly hold an emergency session to make Soeharto account for a number of clashes between the civilians and the military.

The other two trials have six and 11 defendants who are charged of displaying banners and chanting slogans respectively.

Indictment

According to the indictment, the posters and slogans used by the demonstrators amounted to defamation of the President. Defamation of the President is a criminal offense punishable by up to six years in prison.

Marpaung testified that the four defendants had read poems at the rally, the contents of which were aimed at insulting the President. However, he said that he had no idea why the young people were arrested.

The witness said that he also took note of the poems read by the defendants because he found the contents to be "interesting."

Yesterday's hearing was still colored by the defendants protest on the heavy security measures applied in each session.

"There are so many intelligent officers who try to make trouble at this trial. There are so many plain-clothed officers here!' said Masduki, one of the four defendants.

Meanwhile, the judges who are trying the students in the group of 11, decided yesterday to summon legislators Sabam Sirait and Sri Bintang Pamungkas and linguist Arief Rachman to testify in favor of the defendants at the next session.

The prosecutor has already presented his witnesses in the trial.

Sirait, a senior politician from the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), recently testified in the trial of the group of six saying that the students had every right to stage a demonstration and express their opinion.

He told the court that the students were right to take their demands, democracy and accountability at the DPR, because the legislators are supposed to represent the people.

Two other government critics Ali Sadikin and Suyitno Sukirno, have also testified for the defense. (par)