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showed the police's confusion in dealing with the current political dynamism, as the defamation charges were already out of date.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)