Two reporters to be questioned

Two reporters to be questioned

YOGYAKARTA: Police planned on Monday to summon two reporters
from the local Bernas daily as witnesses in their questioning of
Soekardjo Wilardjito -- a former aide of Sukarno who claimed that
the founding president was intimidated into relinquishing power
to Soeharto.

Yogyakarta police chief Col. Bani Siswono also said that a
number of other witnesses had been summoned and questioned. The
two reporters were the first to report Soekardjo's claim.

However, the director of Yogyakarta Legal Aid Office, Budi
Santoso, said the two reporters had every right not to meet the
summons.

"The journalistic code of ethics states they can refuse the
police summons. Their profession obligates them to protect their
sources," he said.

"If police want to summon reporters as witnesses in a case,
they should abide by the existing mechanism. Whether or not their
summons is met depends entirely on the professional organization
of which the reporters are members," he added.

Journalists Putut Wiryawan and Setia Krisna confirmed they
have received the summons, but Putut said the documents should
have been addressed to their chief editor.

"Reports that are published in a newspaper are the
responsibility of the chief editor, not the reporters," he said.

Soekardjo has claimed that on March 11, 1966, he saw four (not
three as widely stated in historical books) generals visiting
Sukarno at the Bogor Presidential Palace.

Soekardjo also claimed to have seen two general threatening
Sukarno into signing a document which granted wide-ranged power
to then Army minister Soeharto to take various steps to restore
order in the country. Indonesia was at the time traumatized by a
bloody attempted coup blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party
(PKI).

Soeharto dissolved and outlawed the party and its affiliates.
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