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