Syarwan lodges defamation complaint against DeTAK

JAKARTA (JP): Police here confirmed yesterday that Minister of Home Affairs Syarwan Hamid had lodged a complaint against the weekly DeTAK tabloid with the National Police headquarters.

"He considers that the 002 and 003 editions of DeTAK defamed him," Detective Unit chief Col. Edi Darnadi was quoted by Antara as saying.

Edi, who was accompanied by deputy National Police spokesman Col. Bambang Haryoko, said that the home affairs ministry's legal bureau submitted the complaint a few days ago.

Edi also said the National Police headquarters' language experts would immediately start studying the editions to pinpoint the parts considered defamatory.

He said that DeTAK staff could face a police summons to clarify the matter.

Syarwan, however, has not been questioned by the police over the matter.

The complaint involves media reports that Syarwan, along with Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Feisal Tanjung and former minister of home affairs Yogie S. Memed, were allegedly involved in the ouster of Megawati Soekarnoputri from the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) leadership in June 1996. Megawati was replaced by Soerjadi.

Furthermore, Syarwan, who was then the Armed Forces chief of sociopolitical affairs, was also allegedly involved in the bloody takeover of the PDI headquarters in Central Jakarta the following month.

All three have denied the accusations, claiming that the incident was merely an internal PDI affair.

Soerjadi, however, admitted last week that the government was involved in Megawati's ouster. (byg)