Megawati's lawsuit goest national

UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi (JP): A group of lawyers representing deposed chief of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) Megawati Soekarnoputri yesterday continued with their plan to wage a nationwide legal battle against her rivals.

The lawyers, calling themselves the Defenders of Indonesian Democracy, yesterday filed a lawsuit against two PDI local activists for attending a government-backed dissident congress in Medan, North Sumatra, which toppled Megawati, in June.

The team's local members filed the lawsuit against Nasrullah and M. Dahlan Muin at the Ujungpandang District Court. They were representing three plaintiffs: Megawati and her secretary general Alexander Litaay, seven provincial party chapter members, and three members of the Ujungpandang branch of PDI.

In a statement, the team alleged that in May and June, a group of people in the PDI had colluded with some others, at both the national and local levels, to organize a congress to topple Megawati.

"The chairman and secretary of the Ujungpandang chapter of PDI were then summoned by some government officials and told to sign a petition demanding for a congress," the statement further said.

When the chairman and secretary refused, Nasrullah and Dahlan Muin then allegedly signed the petition.

One of the local lawyers, Ilyas Amin, said the team is demanding Rp 124 million (US$53,191) in compensation for its local clients.

Following the June congress, the lawyers said in July that all of the 306 PDI branches supportive of Megawati will sue the 1,000 participants of the congress in Medan, North Sumatra, which elected Soerjadi as new chairman.

Megawati has joined forces with the Indonesian Bar Association and the Legal Aid Institute to establish her national team of lawyers. She said the legal action was meant to be a lesson for PDI members and the public in general to have the courage to stand up against injustices. (34/swe)