Falungong file lawsuit against China Embassy

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesia Falungong Association (HFGI) filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the Chinese Embassy for allegedly asking the police to cancel a Falungong parade here last month.

The association demanded the embassy pay Rp 5 billion (US$534,188) in compensation for the parade's cancellation, which was part of a Falungong international gathering.

It also demanded the embassy publish an apology in six major newspapers here and a newspaper in each of the countries where the 672 participants of the parade came from; Australia, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, China, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States.

"We chose to file the lawsuit now, after President Megawati's visit to China last month, because we didn't want the lawsuit to disrupt her visit," said the association's lawyer, Adi Warman.

Adi, who filed the lawsuit at the South Jakarta District Court, said that the association had obtained a permit from the National Police to hold the gathering and parade on March 2 and March 3.

But on March 2, an officer from the embassy attended the gathering without an invitation. The embassy also sent a provocative letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs that the association claimed damaged their credibility, Adi told reporters.

The letter, said Adi, mentioned that Falungong would conduct "provocative political activities for the whole day (on March 3) at Hotel Indonesia traffic circle and the National Monument (Monas)".

On March 3, the police annulled the permit without issuing a clear explanation.

"When we asked for the reason, the officers said we should ask the authorities," Adi said.

However, the association did not sue the police as it said that the cancellation was masterminded by the embassy.

Adi regretted the Indonesia government followed the request issued by the embassy to suspend the conference.

Falungong is a practice to improve physical and spiritual health with its principles of "truthfulness, benevolence and forbearance". It is neither a religion nor a political group.

Beijing banned Falungong in July 1999 claiming it to be "an evil practice". Many allege that Beijing feels threatened by Falungong, which outnumbers the 55 million members of the Communist Party.

It is not known exactly how many Falungong members there are in China, but many believe it could be as many as 100 million.