Police question author of `Primadosa' again
Police question author of `Primadosa' again
JAKARTA (JP): Police investigators questioned the author of the banned book, Primadosa (Prime Sins), Wimanjaya K. Liotohe, 60, who is charged with insulting President Soeharto, again Wednesday.
"During this second interrogation, I was asked by investigators to identify parties who had helped me complete my work," Wimanjaya told reporters after the four-hour interrogation session at the building housing the Crime Investigation Directorate at City Police Headquarters.
Wimanjaya was accompanied by two lawyers from Alamsyah Hanafiah SH & Associates.
"So far, the questioning has yet to deal with the main subject of the case. The questions asked during the sessions are still about general issues," Alamsyah told The Jakarta Post.
Wimajaya was interrogated for the first time on Wednesday last week.
"It was about my identity and my background. They also asked me about the backgrounds of my wife and children but I refused to tell them," Wimajaya said.
The interrogation is scheduled to continue next Thursday.
A police warrant issued on April 6 states that the author will be charged on the basis of Article 134 and 137 of the existing Criminal Code for insulting President Soeharto in January, when Wimanjaya released the first segments of his three-volume work.
Article 134 states that people found guilty of intentionally insulting the president or vice president may face imprisonment of up to six years or a maximum fine of Rp 4,500 (US$2.09).
Under Article 137, people found guilty of publishing a book or picture insulting the president or vice president face a maximum prison term of one year and four months or maximum fine of Rp 4,500.
Not a book
According to Wimanjaya, Primadosa, which was banned by the Attorney General's Office in January, was not intended to be published as a book. He says its contents are from a lawsuit he filed against President Soeharto, whom he accuses of masterminding an attempt to overthrow president Sukarno in 1965.
The coup by the Indonesian Communist Party was put down by troops led by Soeharto, who was a young Army general at the time. Soeharto later rose to power and the party was banned.
Primadosa triggered a barrage of protests from the public against the author within several weeks of its release, indicating that copies or reprints of it were circulating widely.
President Soeharto drew public attention to the work when he disclosed its existence during a meeting with high-ranking Navy officers at his Tapos ranch in West Java on Jan. 23.
He said that the contents of the book were a personal attack against him but stressed that he took it as a challenge.
In his lawsuit filed at the Jakarta administrative court, Wimanjaya wanted the President and the attorney general to pay compensation of Rp 100 trillion ($46.55 billion) to him and all of the Indonesian people for moral and material losses.
Wimajaya has also said he plans to file another lawsuit against the high-ranking officials who recently labeled him "crazy." (bsr)