Two men detained for illegally publishing magazine

JAKARTA (JP): South Jakarta police have detained two men since Sunday for illegally publishing magazines which contain stories that are said to defame President Soeharto.

The men, Andi Syahputra, 31, and Dasrul, about 60, were arrested by plainclothes policemen near a printing company in Cipulir, South Jakarta.

If found guilty, they face a maximum sentence of six years imprisonment. They are now detained at the South Jakarta police precinct, while 5,000 copies of the unofficial publication, Suara Independen, were seized by the police.

Daniel Panjaitan of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, said yesterday the charges may be linked with the magazine's contents.

"But I have not read the magazine yet," he said.

Daniel said the magazines were found in Andi's car.

Andi is an employee at the printing plant. Daniel said sources said Andi was an activist in the Independent Election Monitoring Committee's Jakarta Branch.

Suara Independen was previously published by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) which the government does not acknowledge.

The magazine, which has no publishing permit from the Ministry of Information, is now published in Australia by the Melbourne- based Indonesian Society for Alternative Media (MIPPA).

Daniel said the police had sealed the printing plant, where the magazines were believed to have been printed.

Yesterday South Jakarta Police Chief Lt. Col. Sisno Adiwinoto, who said on Monday he had not received reports of the arrest, could not be reached for comment.

Youth Day

Daniel said police questioned three students who yesterday participated in a discussion on culture held to commemorate Youth Pledge Day.

The students identified as Batara, Fachrul and Saleh, were taken to the Central Jakarta Police Precinct after the discussion was over, the lawyer said.

"The reasons for the questioning were unclear," Daniel said. The discussion was held at the Youth Pledge Building near the precinct on Jl. Kramat Raya. On Oct. 28, 1928, the building was the site of the Youth Pledge issued by several youth organizations.

The talks' organizers were several student groups like PMII (Indonesian Islamic University Students' Movement), and GMKI (Indonesian Christian University Students' Movement), Daniel said. (anr)