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)