Jakarta court agrees to try Bintang's suit

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta State Administrative Court agreed yesterday to try a lawsuit filed by controversial politician Sri Bintang Pamungkas against President Soeharto for dismissing him from the House of Representatives.

"The court has agreed to proceed with the lawsuit," Bintang told reporters after the first hearing. "It (the court) has asked for some corrections in the wordings of the lawsuit."

The first hearing is the phase where the court decides whether or not to proceed with the case.

One change in the lawsuit ordered by Judge Sudarto Radyo Suwarno was over Bintang's occupation, which was listed as a member of the House of Representatives. The judge, according to Bintang, said he should be listed as a former member.

In the lawsuit Bintang asked the court that he be reinstated as a House member and that the President withdraw a May decree that gave the final approval for his dismissal.

Noted human rights lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution, who accompanied Bintang in yesterday's trial, said the judge also asked the plaintiff to condense the lawsuit.

Bintang was removed from the House at the instigation of the United Development Party (PPP) which he was representing. After helping the Moslem-based party in its 1992 election campaign, he fell out of favor with party leaders for deviating from party lines on controversial issues, especially on the political role of the Armed Forces.

He is also the current subject of an official investigation for allegedly insulting the head of state during a lecture he gave to Indonesian students in Germany last March.

In the lawsuit, Bintang argued that he was never given any opportunity to defend himself. He also claims that his dismissal was unconstitutional.

This is the second of his two lawsuits against the government. The first one is asking the court to lift the government's travel ban against him. The ban has already prevented him from attending his daughter's graduation ceremony in the United States last May. (imn)