Two men detained for illegally publishing magazine
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)