Falungong file lawsuit against China Embassy

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.