Syarwan lodges defamation complaint against DeTAK

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)