Megawati wins one, loses one in court
Megawati wins one, loses one in court
JAKARTA (JP): Megawati Soekarnoputri, the ousted leader of the
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), won the right to continue one
of her legal battles after the Supreme Court ruled she could sue
her political rival, Soerjadi.
The court, however, also ruled she could not continue her
lawsuit against the government, which she has accused of backing
her ouster.
In a verdict dated Aug. 18, 1998, the Supreme Court said it
accepted a High Court ruling that the lower Central Jakarta
District Court had the authority to try her lawsuit against
Soerjadi and organizers of the 1996 PDI congress in which she was
toppled.
In the same verdict, the Supreme Court overturned the High
Court's ruling that the same district court also had the
authority to try her lawsuit against the government.
"The Central Jakarta District Court can now try Megawati's
lawsuit against Soerjadi and organizers of the 1996 congress, but
must not continue trying her lawsuit against the government,"
Secretary-General of the Supreme Court Pranowo told reporters
yesterday.
The government in the case was represented by then minister of
home affairs Moch. Yogie S.M., then Armed Forces commander Gen.
(ret.) Feisal Tanjung and then National Police chief Gen. Dibyo
Widodo.
Megawati was replaced by Soerjadi in a government-sponsored
congress held in Medan, North Sumatra, in June 1996.
She responded by lodging hundreds of lawsuits challenging the
validity of the congress and its results at various district
courts nationwide.
Pranowo said the district court could proceed to try
Megawati's lawsuit against Soerjadi because the latter was late
in lodging his formal appeal against the suit. He said Soerjadi's
lawyers had not been aware of the deadline for the appeal's
submission.
Soerjadi announced he planned to appeal the lawsuit on Aug.
12, 1997, but the formal request reached the Supreme Court on
Sept. 10, 1997.
Pranowo quoted Article 47 of Law No. 14/1985 on the Supreme
Court, which stipulates that a formal request for an appeal to
the court must be submitted within two weeks after an
announcement of an appeal is made.
Pranowo supported the judges' ruling that the Central Jakarta
District Court did not have the authority to try Megawati's
lawsuit against the government.
The Supreme Court, chaired by Justice Soeharto, ruled that the
government's support for the 1996 congress was part of its
administrative duties. The district court, it said, did not have
jurisdiction over administrative affairs.
"The government's decision to support the 1996 congress was
for the interest of the country," Pranowo quoted the Supreme
Court as ruling.
"It (support) was not against the law."
The chief of Megawati's team of defense lawyers, R.O.
Tambunan, however, disagreed.
"How could they (the judges) say the government officials
(supporting the congress) had not violated any laws when they
were directly involved in PDI's internal affairs?" he asked.
"We have evidence that the congress participants were
intimidated prior to their arrival to the congress venue in
Medan," he told The Jakarta Post.
Similarly, Alex Litaay, the secretary-general of PDI under
Megawati, said the Supreme Court had made a discriminatory
ruling.
"If Soerjadi and the organizers of the congress can be
prosecuted, then why can't the government officials?" he asked,
adding that the 1945 Constitution said that every citizen should
be treated equally before the law.
In a related development, over 150 Megawati supporters from
Central Java yesterday announced that they planned to travel to
Palu to "persuade" participants of an upcoming Soerjadi-led PDI
congress to abandon the event.
"But we're not going to use violence," said Sukarman, a
Megawati loyalist from Semarang. He also claimed the group was
planning the trip on their own initiative. (imn/emf/har)