Megawati's lawsuit goest national

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)