Nataya not lawful wife: Embassy

JAKARTA (JP): The lawyer of murdered painter Basuki Abdullah told the South Jakarta District Court his marriage to Nataya Nareerat, a Thai woman, was never registered at the Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok.

Siti Zaitin Noor presented a telegram from the Indonesia Embassy in Bangkok in court to prove her argument that the former Thai beauty queen who had been living with Basuki since 1968 is not his lawful wife.

"The telegram from our embassy in Bangkok which I received on July 25 proves the marriage was never reported or registered," Siti told the court on Thursday.

The letter was signed by the embassy's counselor director Nuraini Labde Hamimyar.

Established procedure requires that any person marrying outside of his or her country must register the nuptial at the local diplomatic office.

Basuki Abdullah, one of Indonesia's most celebrated painters, was murdered during a robbery at his house in South Jakarta last November.

Though the homicide was quickly solved by police, controversy still shrouds his tragic death. It came to light not long after his death that just a few months beforehand Basuki had hurriedly drawn up a will in which the Thai woman was left a mere token of the Rp 6 billion (US$2.77 million) estate.

A dispute began when the assigned executor to the will, former minister of education and culture Fuad Hasan, refused the position claiming he had never been asked to perform the task by the painter.

Siti then went to court to ask that Mrs. Saraswati Kouwenhouven, Basuki's Dutch daughter from a previous marriage, be named as the new executor.

Last month Siti went public saying that the deceased himself had told her of the fraudulent status of the marriage.

Nataya, represented by lawyer Eddy Danuwidjaya, quickly challenged the accusations and demanded her lawful rights as a widow. She presented a photocopy of Thai document which she said is a marriage license.

But Siti questioned the validity of Nataya's marriage license despite the fact it carries a stamp from the Royal Thailand embassy here in Jakarta.

Siti claims that a proper Thai marriage license should have a blue border and have the year written in Thai rather than the Latin numbers which appear in Nataya's document.

The trial was adjourned until Wednesday to hear the court decision on the case. (mds)