Police to question five Indonesians over protest
Police to question five Indonesians over protest
JAKARTA (JP): Police say they will summon for questioning five
Indonesians they suspect were involved in an anti-Indonesian
government demonstration during President Soeharto's visit to
Germany last week.
Spokesman for the national police, Brig. Gen. I.K. Ratta,
identified three of the five suspects yesterday as former Tempo
editor Goenawan Mohamad, legislator Sri Bintang Pamungkas and
democracy activist Yeni Rosa Damayanti. He refused to name the
other two, saying only that they were East Timorese.
Sri Bintang is a legislator of the United Development Party
who is about to be dismissed from the House of Representatives by
his own party. Yeni is an activist with the outspoken Pijar
Foundation. She recently completed a 12-month jail term for
defaming President Soeharto.
Goenawan, whose leading newsweekly was banned last year, could
not be reached for comment yesterday.
"We are following up reports that they were involved in the
demonstration," Ratta said.
He said that, because there were no Indonesian police at the
demonstration, they would use video footage which has been
obtained for use as evidence.
Ratta is the first official to confirm rumors of imminent
police action against Yeni, Goenawan and Sri Bintang.
According to the authorities, the five Indonesians were
spotted among the 100 demonstrators who greeted President
Soeharto's arrival in Hannover. The demonstrators accused the
Indonesian government of violating human rights.
Also yesterday, deputy national police chief for operational
affairs, Maj. Gen. M.B. Hutagalung, said that the government
would take legal action against any Indonesian nationals found to
have been involved in the demonstration.
Hutagalung said that national police detectives had been
assigned "to collect all available evidence" in connection with
the suspected involvement of several people in the demonstration.
"In principle, we have to take legal measures against anybody
involved (in the demonstration)," he said.
Hutagalung said that press reports and suggestions made by
some government officials constituted "the basis" for the police
investigation.
"It's just like reporters pursuing stories, they need to know
whether an event is worth reporting," he said. "Police, too, need
to find out whether an action can be considered a violation of
the law."
He said that the police would summon for questioning those
allegedly involved in the demonstration as soon as the evidence
had been collected.
"The law must be upheld without discrimination," he said.
Goenawan was quoted by AFP yesterday as saying that he was
aware of rumors that police planned to take him in for
questioning.
He said, however: "I'm not yet a caged animal."
Interview
Goenawan gave interviews to the German media while on holiday
in Germany but left Germany on March 19 -- almost two weeks
before President Soeharto's arrival -- and was back in Jakarta
when the protests occurred on April 5 and April 6.
On Tuesday, Army Chief of Staff General Hartono said that if
the media reports were true "about the actions of some
Indonesians who besmirch their own nation, it is over the top."
"The head of state represents the entire Indonesian nation and
being treated like that, who would not be angry," he said, adding
"we will see later what action will be taken by the authorities."
A member of the Indonesian Armed Forces faction in the House
of Representatives, Aminullah Ibrahim, has urged the government
to consider legal action against people who took part in the
protests.
"If it is proved that Indonesians were behind such
demonstrations, they need to face the legal process," Media
Indonesia quoted him as saying.
The paper also quoted a senior member of the ruling Golkar
party, Oka Mahendra, as saying that the government needed to be
sure the demonstrations did not have any "connections with
clandestine movements within the country." (bsr/swe)