Thamrin ready to face Wiranto's suit

JAKARTA (JP): A University of Indonesia sociologist Thamrin Tomagola, who is facing a defamation suit filed by former military chief Gen. (ret.) Wiranto and three other Army generals, hopes the hearings will reveal who was behind the Ambon riots.

The trial is a golden opportunity to disclose who were the masterminds of the incidents, he told reporters on Friday.

Tomagola, chairman of the Indonesian Reconciliation Institute, is being sued by the generals in connection with his statement that they were the provocateurs of the prolonged communal clashes in Ambon, Maluku.

Wiranto, who is also former coordinating minister of political and security affairs, along with Lt. Djaja Suparman, Lt. Gen. Suasi Marasabessy and Maj.Gen. Sudi Silalahi, filed the lawsuit with the Cibinong district court in Bogor, West Java. They demanded Rp 100 billion in compensation.

Tomagola said he has asked 32 lawyers to represent him.

The team of lawyers will be coordinated by Munir from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and Jonson Panjaitan from the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI).