Trial resumes as Gus Dur, KPU ditches mediation
Trial resumes as Gus Dur, KPU ditches mediation
Urip Hudiono and M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta
The trial between former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid
and the General Elections Commission resumed on Monday, after the
two sides failed to reach an out-of-court settlement.
Gus Dur filed a lawsuit in May against the commission, the
Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) and the Ministry of Health,
alleging that they introduced discriminatory requirements
resulting in his disqualification from the July 5 presidential
race.
The first hearing took place in May, when the judges asked the
two parties to settle the dispute out of court.
In Monday's hearing at the Central Jakarta District Court,
presiding judge Cicut Sutiarso officially announced that the
court-brokered arbitration had failed, and the trial would
proceed with the court hearing the plaintiff's charges and
demands against the defendants.
Gus Dur's lawyer Ikhsan Abdullah said the health examination
for presidential candidates, jointly drawn up by the KPU and the
IDI in KPU ruling No. 36/2004, was discriminatory and constituted
a human rights violation, while the cleric's disqualification
breached Law No. 23/1992 on health.
The plaintiff also accused the Ministry of Health of
consenting to the violation when it actually had the authority to
handle to issue.
Gus Dur is seeking a whopping compensation of Rp 1 trillion
(US$110 million) for nonmaterial losses and Rp 1,000
for material losses, as well as a public apology for three
consecutive days in national print and electronic media.
The court was scheduled to hear the defendants' response to
the charges, but instead the trial was adjourned until July 19,
as the ministry's lawyer, Binus Manik, was not ready with his
response in defense of his client.
In a related development, commission member Hamid Awaluddin
dismissed Gus Dur's claim that six KPU members must resign for
their alleged violations of several regulations related to the
election.
"We are too busy working on more crucial matters related to
the country's interests and have no time to comment on things
that only reflect Gus Dur's eccentric behavior," Hamid told
reporters.
Hamid also challenged the near-blind cleric to provide
evidence to substantiate his claim that the KPU was biased toward
a particular candidate and had manipulated election regulations
to the advantage of the candidate.
Earlier, Gus Dur said in a news conference that KPU chairman
Nazaruddin Syamsuddin, deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti, members
Hamid Awaluddin, Chusnul Marriyah, Anas Urbaningrum and Daan
Dimara must resign from their posts and demanded the installment
of fresh faces to replace them.
"Aside from manipulating the Elections Law, the KPU members in
question should also be brought to court on corruption charges,"
he said.