Preacher Anton a no-show for city police summons

JAKARTA (JP): Ex-con turned Moslem preacher Anton Medan, who has been named by police as a suspect for orchestrating the mid- May riots, failed yesterday to meet a police summons for questioning.

Instead, he sent his lawyer, Munir from the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, to meet interrogators at the Jakarta Police Headquarters.

According to Munir, his client asked him to represent him in order to firstly clarify allegations made against Anton for his role in leading the crowds during the unrest.

"We strongly believe that he is being treated as a scapegoat in the mid-May riots. He could not be responsible for all the riots which occurred here.

"Based on our investigation, it is obvious that Anton was in the wrong place and at the wrong time when some incidents happened," the lawyer explained.

During the two-hour meeting with the police yesterday, Munir told investigators that on May 13 his client was asked by a Marine colonel to calm angry crowds in the Gunung Sahari area in Central Jakarta.

Anton then shepherded people to an open field, Munir told reporters.

"After doing that he went straight home. And Anton also reiterated that there had been no burnings and lootings when he left the area.

We've double checked Anton's testimony and so far all that he has said is true," he said.

The police interrogators told Munir that they had already questioned 13 people, all of whom supported the police allegation against Anton.

He said that Anton would meet the police summons tomorrow morning. Munir said he would accompany his client to the National Military Police headquarters to clarify Anton's role in the same incident.

Munir also expressed his dissatisfaction with the police over their reluctance to release one of his other clients, Andi Arief, the chairman of Indonesian Students Solidarity for Democracy (SMID), a wing of the outlawed Democratic People's Party (PRD).

"We learn that there's an institution which has interfered with the police's efforts to release Andi Arief.

"The city police chief himself (Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman) gave me his word that he granted the appeal last week," Munir said.

Andi is being detained for his alleged role in the Tanah Tinggi bomb explosion in Central Jakarta last year. (edt)