Treatment of Sri Bintang questioned
Treatment of Sri Bintang questioned
JAKARTA (JP): As police questioned legislator Sri Bintang Pamungkas yesterday, his colleagues in the House of Representatives debated about the way the authorities were treating him.
Bintang has complained that his interrogators did not produce the necessary documentation from President Soeharto authorizing them to carry out their questioning.
The United Development Party (PPP) representative has been accused of tarnishing Soeharto's name in lectures he gave in several German cities around the same time the President was visiting Germany.
Only recently was it discovered that Soeharto never signed the document. Instead, it was signed by Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono on behalf of the president.
Law no. 13/1970 stipulates that police must have the President's approval before questioning any House representative.
Handjojo Putro of the Indonesian Democratic Party sympathized with Bintang and questioned the authority of Moerdiono in signing such a document. "If the President was preoccupied, then it should have been signed by the vice president."
Handjojo also questioned the rapid way the police changed their course during the investigation. Bintang was first investigated for his alleged participation in an anti-Indonesia demonstration in Germany, and later questioned about his lectures.
"It leaves the impression that police are making up the accusations," he said. "They should have conducted a thorough investigation first before summoning Bintang."
Oka Mahendra of the dominant faction Golkar recalled that Moerdiono signed similar documents in the past on behalf of the President giving police the authorization to question legislators over criminal cases.
Oka said he believed that House members are not immune to the law and should not be given special treatment, adding that the 1970 law might need revising to make it "more egalitarian."
Not surprisingly, Bintang did not have the support of his own faction in the House.
Jusuf Sjakir of the PPP faction said that the 1970 law only stipulates that there must be presidential approval. "There is no mention of having it in writing. Therefore, approval can be given orally or in writing."
Meanwhile, PPP chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum said that Bintang has not made a single contribution to the party's cause since being elected to the House in 1992.
"Outside the party, Bintang always talked about advancing the party, but he never presented a single proposal or concept to the party's central executive board to that end," Ismail Hasan was quoted by Antara news agency as saying yesterday.
Bintang, a lecturer at the prestigious University of Indonesia, was one of the few intellectuals the PPP managed to recruit to bolster its image ahead of the election.
His outspokenness on various issues was expected to draw the support of young and first-time voters and he was duly rewarded with a seat in the House after the election.
The PPP managed to better its performance slightly in the 1992 elections, raising its tally of votes from 16 to 17 percent and staying just ahead of the Indonesian Democratic Party, which polled 15 percent of the votes.
Bintang's presence in the House of Representatives, however, put the party in jeopardy for some of his remarks, which, for example, touched on the role of the Armed Forces.
He increasingly became a liability to the party and in March this year Ismail Hasan initiated a move to have him removed from the House of Representatives.
The proposal was already endorsed by the House's leadership and is still awaiting final approval from President Soeharto.
Confident that the approval from the head of state is simply a matter of time, Ismail Hasan has announced that Hadimulyo, a party activist, will fill the House seat to be vacated by Bintang.
When the report alleging Bintang's involvement in the German protests surfaced last month, Ismail Hasan was quick to issue an apology to the President and the public. (swe/emb)