Ratna briefs police on political standing

Ratna briefs police on political standing

JAKARTA (JP): Playwright Ratna Sarumpaet, in her capacity as
coordinator of the National Coalition, briefed city police chief
Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman on Tuesday, about her political
standing after she refused to abide by a police summons.

"I told Pak Noegroho what we are doing in the National
Coalition. A coalition is legal in any democratic country," she
said after a one-and-a-half-hour meeting.

Ratna was summoned twice last week as a witness in an alleged
defamation of President B.J. Habibie in a meeting held in Hotel
Indonesia on Aug. 16.

She refused to meet police requests on the grounds that the
objective of the summons was unclear. However, she reiterated on
Tuesday that her visit to the city police's headquarters had
nothing to do with the summons.

"It was just like a conversation between a father and his
children. He introduced himself as the new city police chief and
vice versa."

At the meeting Ratna was accompanied by her lawyers from the
Association of Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights (PBHI) and
Pius Lustrilanang, one of the coalition's coordinators.

She claims that the national coalition is the biggest
political organization in the country with membership from
various political parties, non-government organizations and pro-
reform groups.

"Everybody in the coalition wants to see democracy upheld in
this country, regardless of the parties and organizations they
belong to," she said.

Hendardi, one of the PBHI lawyers, said the summons to Ratna
showed the police's confusion in dealing with the current
political dynamism, as the defamation charges were already out of
date.

Separately, city police spokesman Lt. Col. Edward Aritonang
said police would continue probing into the alleged defamation.

"It doesn't mean that Ratna's case is closed after her meeting
with Noegroho. We (the police) will uphold the existing laws," he
said. (emf)