Ousted PDI leader Megawati unlikely to answer summons

Ousted PDI leader Megawati unlikely to answer summons

JAKARTA (JP): Ousted leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party
(PDI) Megawati Soekarnoputri is unlikely to answer a police
summons issued as part of a probe into recent rioting. She is
expected to send her lawyers instead.

Sources said yesterday that the team of lawyers, which
includes R.O. Tambunan, Harjono Tjitrosoebono and Soekardjo
Adidjojo, will represent her during the questioning, scheduled
for 10 a.m. today at the City Police Headquarters in Central
Jakarta.

The source said Megawati was advised against appearing because
the police summons contained legal flaws, including the fact that
it reached Megawati only Friday evening while the law requires
that it should have been handed to her at least 72 hours before
she was due to appear.

In addition, the summons said she was to be questioned in
connection with crimes committed between June 17 and July 28 this
year. The crimes are related to the free speech forum held daily
at the party's headquarters.

The source said the summons fails to mention people already
being charged for the "crimes" as stipulated by the law.

Furthermore, the summons fails to include details about the
official consent from President Soeharto for the probe into
Megawati. As a legislator and member of the People's Consultative
Assembly, Megawati has a number of privileges, including
exemption from police questioning, which can only be removed by a
presidential order.

Senior military officers had earlier said that Megawati should
take some responsibility for the riots that left three people
dead and substantial damage to property.

They said the free speech forum held at the PDI headquarters
on Jl. Diponegoro when it was under her control had been widely
abused by PDI leaders and activists who used it as a platform to
attack the government and incite people to riot.

Apart from Megawati, PDI legislators Aberson M. Sihaloho and
Sophan Sophiaan and Sabam Sirait have also been summoned.

Separately, Indonesia's oldest living general, Gen. (ret)
Abdul Harris Nasution, said yesterday the military was mistaken
in adopting the shoot-on-site policy issued early last week.

"The shoot-on-site order is a fundamental error," he said.

Nasution said tear gas should be prescribed to deal with any
disturbances, because its use was approved by the military high
command in the past.

He argued that the current unrest, which erupted and
threatened the political system, is caused by none other than the
New Order's own reluctance to accommodate political reform.

Restrictions on people's participation in political activity
can no longer restrain the increasingly dynamic society, he
pointed out.

Nasution also questioned the wisdom of the government's
insistence in accusing a communistesque group, known as the
People's Democratic Party (PRD), as being responsible for
engineering the unrest in a bid to topple the government.

"Those who were born after 1965, in my opinion, are far from
what they are being accused of, even though I do not deny the
possibility of someone pushing them in that direction," Nasution
said. (mds)