Police submit scholar's case to prosecutors
JAKARTA (JP): The police have submitted the dossiers of George Yunus Aditjondro to the Yogyakarta prosecutors' office although the academic, accused of insulting the President, has applied to live in Australia permanently.
"The court can start the trial. We have done our job," National Police Chief Gen. Banurusman Astrosemitro told journalists here yesterday.
George now teaches Asian Studies at Murdoch University in Perth. Earlier this week, the West Australian newspaper reported that he wanted to reside permanently in Australia.
George, a lecturer at the Satya Wacana Christian University in Salatiga, arrived in Perth as a visiting fellow at the university in February. At the time he was under investigation by the Yogyakarta police.
The West Australian reported that he alleges he could not return to Indonesia for police questioning because the judicial system in Indonesia is unjust and his case had been pre- determined.
Authorities say that George, who is known to take a critical stance on the government's policy on the troubled East Timor, made slanderous remarks on Indonesia's economic and political practices in a seminar in Yogyakarta last year.
Banurusman said that it is up to the Yogyakarta court to decide whether it will seek to extradite George, who is also known as a human rights campaigner.
His refusal to return to Indonesia and answer the charges has provoked mixed reactions from all quarters. Legislators from the ruling Golkar party have called him a "coward and hypocrite."
Sixty seven Australian academics have said in a petition filed with the Indonesian government that the George case was a "continuation of the intimidation leveled against him for his investigative research on human rights violations and environmental degradation in East Timor and Irian Jaya."
Armed Forces (ABRI) Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung said yesterday that the George affair should not affect the relations between Indonesia and Australia.
"The problem must not cause a row between Indonesia and Australia," he told journalists before attending a monthly cabinet ministerial meeting.
Consultation
Attorney General Singgih said he needs to consult with the minister of foreign affairs to decide whether the government would seek to extradite the scholar.
Indonesia and Australia have an extradition treaty.
Alatas, talking to journalists before attending the cabinet meeting, said that at this level, it is the police who are handling the George affair.
"We will see if we can use the (extradition) pact to extradite him," he said.
In Salatiga, George's lawyer Budi Hartono said his client has every right to seek a permanent resident status in Australia or anywhere else he wishes.
"I can fully understand why he wants to reside permanently in Australia with his family," said the lawyer form the Yogyakarta branch of Indonesian Legal Aid institute.
He said George's refusal to return to Indonesia would make it difficult for the police and the court to handle the case because to extradite him would not be an easy job.
In a telephone interview with the Suara Merdeka newspaper in Semarang on Tuesday, George said that although he want to stay permanently in Australia, he would not change his citizenship.
"Please note that I have no intention of seeking political asylum. I'll remain an Indonesian citizen and still love Indonesia in my own way," he was quoted as saying. (bsr/har/pan)