Police send summons to Megawati over riot

Police send summons to Megawati over riot

JAKARTA (JP): Police said yesterday that they have sent a
summons requesting Megawati Soekarnoputri, the embattled leader
of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), to their office on
Monday for questioning in connection with last week's riots.

Jakarta Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata said three other
members of the House of Representatives from the PDI faction --
Aberson Marle Sihaloho, Sabam Sirait and Sophan Sophiaan -- have
also been served with separate summonses.

The summonses were issued on Thursday immediately after the
police received official consent from President Soeharto. As
House members, their privileges, including exemption from police
questioning, could only be removed by presidential order.

"Megawati, together with three other PDI legislators, are
requested to come to the Jakarta Police Headquarters for an
investigation on Monday," Hamami told reporters yesterday.

A spokesman for Megawati, however, said that as of yesterday
afternoon, she had not received the police letter.

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 to become a platform to
attack the government and incite people to riot.

The July 27 riot occurred immediately after the forced
takeover of the PDI headquarters by supporters of Soerjadi, the
PDI chairman elected at a controversial government-sponsored
congress in June that removed Megawati from leadership.

The authorities investigating the riots have already detained
labor activist Muchtar Pakpahan. His lawyers said he had now been
formally charged with subversion and is under arrest.

Subversion is an offense punishable by death.

Several other figures have also been questioned this past
week, including Megawati's sister, Sukmawati Soekarnoputri,
politicians Ridwan Saidi and Julius Usman and soothsayer Permadi
Satrio Wiwoho.

All were believed to have taken an active part in the free-
speech forum at the PDI headquarters.

The authorities are also looking for Budiman Sudjatmiko, the
chairman of the Democratic People's Party (PRD) which was also
active in the free-speech forum. The military puts the blame for
Saturday's riot chiefly on the PRD, an organization it says is
"synonymous" with the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party.

Hamami said the police are also hunting for the other top PRD
leaders and have asked the Ministry of Justice to slap a ban on
overseas travel against Budiman and the other leaders.

Sources in the Jakarta Police said Budiman was still in the
country, refuting press reports suggesting that he had fled to
the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, Antara reported that the government has also
slapped overseas travel bans on all those who took part in PDI's
free-speech forums.

Their names have been supplied to all immigration checkpoints
to prevent them from leaving the country, the news agency said
quoting an unnamed source in the Armed Forces. Antara did not
give the names of those affected by the travel ban.

Hamami said police have released 113 of the 246 people picked
up during the riot because there was insufficient evidence to
bring them to court.

"The other 123 rioters will be charged with subversive
articles and their dossiers are being submitted to the Jakarta
Prosecutors' Office today. Ten other people are still undergoing
interrogation," he said.

In Yogyakarta, police arrested five students yesterday,
allegedly PRD activists, during a gathering in front of the
state-run Gadjah Mada University.

Some 200 students had been assembled for the speech forum when
the police arrived to disperse the crowd.

The Yogyakarta police on Thursday raided the PRD's local
office on Jl. Sendowo, but found no one inside. They seized
several documents, a facsimile machine and copies of the PRD
bulletin Suara Massa (The Voice of the Masses.)

"Our investigation found that PRD had masterminded all the
recent protests in Yogyakarta," Yogyakarta Police Chief Lt. Col.
Soenaryo told reporters yesterday.

In Semarang, Chief of the Diponegoro Regional Military Command
Maj. Gen. Subagyo H.S. told The Jakarta Post yesterday that the
military would take firm action against anybody disturbing the
security and order in Central Java and Yogyakarta.

Subagyo said, however, that it was too premature to issue an
order to shoot on sight in his region: "I still believe that the
Central Java people and the Yogyakartans love peace and order."

The Jakarta Military Commander, Maj. Gen. Sutiyoso, said on
Monday he would not hesitate to issue the shoot-on-sight order if
violence erupts in the capital again.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Hartono said on Thursday that the
order could be expanded to other parts of the country.

Meanwhile, as of yesterday, several people were still
unaccounted for since the riots erupted in Jakarta.

The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute reported that the total number
of missing persons reported to its office was 20, while the
Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation had 62 names on its list.

The series of bomb threats which disrupted Jakarta in the wake
of the riot continued yesterday. This time, the target was the
giant PT Coca Cola Indonesia bottling plant in Cempaka Putih,
Central Jakarta. The threat, like all earlier ones, was a hoax.

"We received the call at around 10:30 a.m. saying that a bomb
had been planted at our factory and was timed to explode at
11:30," company spokesman Jannus Hutapea told the Post.

A bomb disposal squad from the police force sent immediately
to the location made a thorough check before declaring the area
safe.

Hutapea said the threat caused minimum disruption to the
company, as it came close to lunch time. "So, we told the
employees to take an early lunch break while the bomb squad
conducted their work," he said. (bsr/imn/har/16)

Rioters -- Page 2

Politics -- Page 4