PPP, Bintang set for 'all-out' legal battle
PPP, Bintang set for 'all-out' legal battle
JAKARTA (JP): Leading members of the United Development Party (PPP) looked set to engage in a legal battle with legislator Sri Bintang Pamungkas, who is suing the party for dismissing him from the House of Representatives.
"I'll wage an all-out legal battle," said Bintang who was recently dismissed from his post at the House of Representatives by the party. "This is a country which upholds the supremacy of law, and I see what I'm about to do as an exercise to prove how laws are enforced.
"I won't just sit back and let the party leaders hurl accusations at me because they are not backing the charges up with evidence," he told The Jakarta Post.
Bintang was responding to reports that some leading members of the PPP said that they will see Bintang in court.
Although the PPP has yet to state its stance on Bintang's plan, Ali Hardi Kiaidemak and H.M. Abduh Paddare have indicated that the party will proceed with its plan to have Bintang removed from the House, and that Bintang can proceed with his lawsuit.
"Bintang always screams about his individual rights being abused, but he forgets that the rights of the party are above the rights of individual members," Abduh was reported to have said by Pelita newspaper.
Abduh accused Bintang of being out of line and of violating many of the organization's rules.
"If these (violations) occurred in the military, Bintang would have been locked up, discharged or even shot," Abduh said. "The party has been very tolerant of him, but his behavior has only worsened."
Abduh's attack became more personal when he described Bintang as an "arrogant man who thinks he's the smartest person around, and always looks down on other people."
"Bintang's statements have often upset Buya (PPP chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum)," Abduh recounted.
Bintang told the Post that the PPP leaders have, by dismissing him on some "fabricated" and "baseless" charges, tarnished the legislature as well.
Venue
"The House is a body which, despite its many shortcomings, the people trust as the venue to voice their aspirations," he said.
He also refuted an accusation by a PPP leader that he was determined to bring the party leaders to court because he did not want to lose the material and financial facilities he has been receiving as a legislator.
"I'm preparing a lawsuit against PPP leaders because this is a matter of justice and legal truth," he said. "People must not go around making arbitrary accusations."
"Even if I'm no longer a legislator, I will still sue them because of the accusations they have hurled against me concerned my position as an Indonesian citizen," he said.
"I'm not suing them because I want to remain a House member," he added.
He also pointed out that he is willing to be dismissed "if the people want to remove me, because I violated any laws, which have yet to be proved in court, or because I violated the Constitution, in which case it's the People's Consultative Assembly that should prove my guilt."
Ali Hardi admitted that PPP had made a mistake in recruiting Bintang in 1992 and posting him to the House the next year, by- passing various procedures.
"We hoped that by recruiting him, Bintang would be more professional and contribute to the party's performance, like what economic analyst Kwik Kian Gie's contributed to PDI (the Indonesian Democratic Party)," he said.
Bintang told the Post he was still in the process of establishing a team of lawyers to fight his case. He wasn't sure if he was going to file the lawsuit in a district court or in a state administrative court.
He acknowledged that one of the team members will be Hartono Mardjono, a senior PPP politician who was instrumental in having the party recruit Bintang in the early 1990s.
Political scientist Arbi Sanit told the Post the dismissal of Bintang proved the "oligarchic nature" of the PPP.
"All the party's elite is concerned with is their interests in the organization and in the structure of the state," he said.
He blamed chairman Ismail Hasan for many of the party's problems, which include the current conflict with Bintang.
"Ismail Hasan decided to fire Bintang because he's afraid of the power holders," he said.
Another political observer, Syamsuddin Haris of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, recently said the PPP was acting out its "inferiority complex" when it decided to have Bintang removed from the House.
"The PPP is only riding along with Golkar, so it won't have to face public criticism alone," he said. (swe)