Police to charge organizers of unlicensed seminar

JAKARTA (JP): City police are preparing to charge the organizers of a seminar and the owner of the venue for holding an unlicensed public gathering, which led to the questioning of a number of people, including American anthropologist Robert Hefner of Boston University.

"Members of the organizers as well as the owner of the house where the seminar was held will be charged under Article 510 of the Criminal Code while Hefner will serve as a witness," City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Dibyo Widodo told reporters yesterday.

The two-star general, however, refused to say precisely how many organizers there were or who they are.

Police detained a number of people for questioning, including Hefner who was a speaker at the seminar and the organizers, on the grounds that the seminar was held without a permit from the police as required by Article 510.

After being informed of the latest turn of events, both chairman of the newly-founded Yayasan Indonesia Baru, Sigid Edi Sutomo, and owner of the venue, Bondan Gunawan, told The Jakarta Post last night that they were ready to face the charge.

"Principally, if the police consider us having violated a rule, then we're ready for it," Sigid said by phone from Semarang, Central Java.

Bondan in Jakarta also gave a similar response.

"We're pretty ready for such an allegation," said the owner of the house on Jl. Paseban 43 in Central Jakarta which is also the head office of Information and Data Research Center which Bondan chairs.

He admitted that he agreed to the discussion being held at his premises because some of the personnel of the foundation are also personnel of his research center.

Both Sigid and Bondan said they had not yet been summoned for police questioning as required by general procedures for crime suspects.

Article 510 rules that a person may face a maximum fine of Rp 375 (17 U.S. cents) if he/she is found guilty of organizing a public gathering without a permit issued by the head of the local police or another appointed civilian officer.

Based on an earlier police version, Monday's questioning at the Central Jakarta police headquarters took place after the police were informed that the organizers held no permit. Moreover, the police also accused some participants of asking the foreign speaker deviating questions.

"Everything Hefner said was quite okay but many questions coming from the floor were quite oblique," Central Jakarta police head Lt. Col. Murawi Effendi told reporters on Tuesday.

Murawi said that his officers took a number of people to his office to question them about permits for the seminar after the organizers broke up the meeting on their own.

Sigid and Bondan said that a number of plainclothes officers had been in the room in which the seminar was held ever since the discussion began.

However, they suddenly asked six of the organizers, including Sigid, as well as the speaker to accompany them to the police station for questioning after the meeting closed.

"I don't know what their motive was for doing so," said Bondan. "Because if they want to take the organizers for not having legal permits for the seminar, why didn't they do it earlier?"

During the seminar, he said the plainclothes officers took notes on the speech and had some drinks and snacks with them.

According to Sigid, the premises have been used for seminars many times with only a permit from the local head of the neighborhood.

City Police Chief Dibyo insisted: "The existing rule only states that the permits have to be issued by the police, not from a neighborhood head."

Headquartered on Jl. Cikini Raya, the Yayasan Indonesia Baru (New Indonesian Foundation) -- for research on the environment, democracy and other academician issues. -- was only founded several weeks ago.

"The seminar on Monday evening was also a mini launching ceremony for our foundation," said secretary Ulil Abshar Abdalla.

Hefner, vice-director of the Institute for the Study of Economic Culture at Boston University, was in Indonesia at the invitation of the government-funded Indonesian Institute of Sciences to address a seminar on Islam.

Murawi said that the American, who was here on a tourist visa, had told police interrogators that he very much regretted the event.

Sigid commented: "He probably did such a thing in order to avoid further problems as he still needs Indonesia for his research." (bsr)