Theo questioned again to confirm his voice

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta Police summoned former chief of the Udayana regional military command Lt. Gen. (ret.) Theo Syafei again on Monday to confirm whether a controversial speech recording was really his voice.

Theo was currently being questioned in relation to reports accusing him of spreading anti-Muslim information and fomenting hatred against Islam.

Neither Theo nor his lawyers were willing to comment on the voice in the cassettes after the six-hour questioning.

"I don't want to comment on whether it's my voice or not. I've given my answers to the police," Theo told reporters.

One of Theo's lawyers, Didi Supriyanto, said the police should check the cassettes to rule out the possibility of the voice being engineered.

"What can't be produced by a sound laboratory now? Even the voice of Nat King Cole, who died several years ago, could be united with his daughter's voice," Didi said.

He believed that police would examine the evidence at the police laboratory in line with standard procedure.

"Answers from my client concerning the cassettes will not help the police if they get false evidence," he said.

Theo was accused of insulting Muslims in his speech before a group of Christian youths at a church in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara.

The speech was believed to have fueled Christian resentment which lead to the riot in Kupang on Nov. 30 between Muslims and Christians.

Theo's speech was reportedly recorded and distributed to the public under the label: "Theo's Islam Phobia."

Theo, who recently joined the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) lead by Megawati Soekarnoputri, was also questioned about his political activity in the party and the possibility that he made political speeches on behalf of his new party.

"Police also asked Pak Theo about PDI and any speeches he made after he joined the party," Didi said.

However, Didi also speculated about the possibility that certain parties wanted to benefit from Theo's conviction to discredit PDI.

It was reported earlier that Megawati issued a statement to say Theo's case had nothing to do with her party.

Theo, a top figure in the Armed Forces (ABRI), once served a brief stint in the ABRI faction in the House of Representatives (DPR) before he fell out of favor in 1997 for criticizing former president Soeharto.

City police spokesman Lt. Col. Zainuri Lubis confirmed that Monday's summons was the second time police had questioned Theo on the matter, the first session was last Thursday.

"He (Theo) will be invited again if police need more information from him," Zainuri said, adding that Theo was to be questioned again on Thursday. (emf)