There are good and bad dictators, Permadi tells court

There are good and bad dictators, Permadi tells court

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Controversial soothsayer Permadi Satrio
Wiwoho, who is on trial on charges of blasphemy, admitted in
court yesterday of calling Prophet Muhammad a "dictator", but
stressed that there were good dictators and bad ones.

Permadi told the Sleman District Court that the government
prosecutors cut parts of his remarks, made during a seminar at
the Gadjah Mada University in April 1994.

He said he had made the remarks in response to a question from
the floor and that it was the questioner who first remarked that
Prophet Muhammad had immense power bestowed in him.

So, in response to the question, Permadi recalled, he stressed
that a dictator was not necessarily bad, depending on how one
used the power. "But this last part of the sentence had been
omitted by the government prosecutors. If you listen to the
original tape, these words were there."

Another statement of his that had been manipulated by the
prosecutors was when the soothsayer stressed that in spite of the
immense power Prophet Muhammad had, he used it to uphold the
principles of "truth and justice".

"Could such words be construed as sowing hatred among the
Islamic community or denigrating Prophet Muhammad?" Permadi
asked. "If they (the prosecutors) present my sentence in full, it
will become apparent that I revere Prophet Muhammad."

The prosecutors admitted that they used parts of Permadi's
remarks in their dossier, stressing that "this did not change the
intention, connotation and substance of the crime committed."

The important thing was that Permadi said the words that were
tantamount to insulting Prophet Muhammad and the Islamic
community, Donny Kathneza, the chief prosecutor, said.

The prosecutors, Permadi and his lawyers were locked in heated
argument yesterday to convince Judge Ismet Ilahoede to try or
dismiss the case. The trial was adjourned to Thursday.

Permadi accused Din Syamsuddin, a young Moslem scholar and
politician of the ruling Golkar organization, of launching the
campaign to have him prosecuted.

He said that the prosecutors had simply based their case on a
tape recording of the seminar that had already been cut in parts
by Syamsuddin. "They completely disregarded the complete version
of the tape, copies of which are now in possession of the
Yogyakarta Police and the seminar organizers."

He recalled that it was Syamsuddin's public accusation against
him in February that inflamed the Moslem people in Indonesia and
led to the current prosecution. (02/emb)