Reasons sought for priest's travel ban

JAKARTA (JP): The lawyer of a Jesuit Catholic Priest, recently banned from traveling abroad, would seek an explanation on the restriction in a meeting with Armed Forces chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung Monday.

Lawyer Luhut M.P. Pangaribuan said yesterday that Feisal would meet with his client Father Ignatius Sandyawan Sumardi at the Armed Forces headquarters.

Luhut said his client wanted to discuss the travel ban in an informal manner.

Formal channels would be pursued if adequate reasons could not be found at the meeting, he said.

Sandyawan was barred from traveling to Australia Thursday by immigration officials at the Soekarno-Hatta international airport. Immigration officials said his name had been placed in the computer under orders from Feisal.

Father Ignatius Sandyawan Sumardi, better known as Romo (Father) Sandy, was due to have surgery on his right eye in Perth yesterday.

Luhut said that medical treatment available in Australia was ideal for his client's condition.

He said Sandyawan's right eye was injured during a motorcycle accident a few years ago. Severe redness in his right eye indicated Sandyawan's condition had worsened.

Sandyawan was unavailable for comment about the travel ban imposed on him.

Luhut said he could not say if the travel ban on Father Sandyawan was linked to the failed government case against his client.

Sandyawan was acquitted of charges of harboring activists from the unrecognized Democratic People's Party (PRD).

Sandyawan leads a non-governmental organization Jakarta Social Institute which actively helps street children, laborers and poor people caught in land disputes. (01)