Students testify in favor of Bintang

JAKARTA (JP): Two Indonesians studying in Berlin testified yesterday in favor of ousted legislator Sri Bintang Pamungkas, who is accused of insulting President Soeharto in Germany in April,.

The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation lawyers defending Bintang said that another student studying in Berlin had also been questioned by police on Tuesday.

Foundation spokesman Hendardi said that the police investigators simultaneously questioned two Indonesian students yesterday. Both had attended a seminar at the Technische Universiteit which featured Bintang as the speaker.

The two students were Iwan Setiabudi, 23, and Kristianto Hindratmo S., 24. Iwan, a former chairman of the Berlin's chapter of the Indonesian Students Association (PPI), was in charge of recording Bintang's lecture, while Kristianto was a participant.

"The interrogation focussed on the activities of the Berlin- chapter of the Indonesian Students Association," Hendardi told The Jakarta Post.

He said that the interrogators queried Iwan why the student association invited Bintang to address the Indonesian students in Berlin.

"It is a common practice for Berlin's PPI to invite Indonesian scholars who visited the city of Berlin to lecture," Hendardi quoted Iwan as replying.

The police investigators also dug for more information on what the former legislator from the United Development Party discussed at the seminar.

Bintang is currently in trouble for his alleged role in a series of anti-Indonesian activities during his visit to Germany, which occurred at the same time as President Soeharto's official visit to the country.

Police also interrogated Ignatius Iryanto, 33, a Berlin student who was the moderator of the seminar, on Tuesday.

Iryanto, who returned to Germany yesterday, said that the seminar at the Technische Universiteit was attended by at least 60 people.

In June, police heard testimonies from Ahmad Fachrur Rozy and Faizal Masnain, Indonesian students studying in Berlin who had attended the seminar. They testified that Bintang called President Soeharto a dictator.

"Both Ahmad and Faizal left before the seminar was over," Iryanto said.

Iryanto told the police investigators that Bintang never said anything aimed at insulting President Soeharto.

He also said that he was confronted with a transcript of a tape recording of the seminar, which was obtained from Ahmad Fachrur Rozy.

He said that he could not remember all the things that Bintang discussed in the seminar because it was too long ago. (imn)