Jakarta – A former Jakarta governor was picked up by police here Sunday for questioning, the fifth opposition figure netted in a subversion probe launched in the wake of mass anti-government protests.
Government critics called the round-up a sign of panic by the government, rattled by protests, riots and looting not seen in Jakarta since the days before former president Suharto's downfall in May.
The former governor, retired marine general Ali Sadikin, was picked up from his home by police Sunday night in connection with the government-launched probe, his friends and family members said. "He was taken from the house about half an hour ago (around 8:10pm), his lawyer was with him," said a source.
Sadikin was the fifth opposition figure to be taken in by police in the past two days. Earlier Sunday retired army general Kemal Idris and former political prisoner and political party leader Sri Bintang Pamungkas were taken in for questioning at police headquarters.
The first two to be taken in Saturday were the head of the University Indonesia Alumni Association, Hariadi Dharmawan, and Roh Basuki Mangunprojo of the National Reform Movement group. They were released early Sunday after being interrogated for hours, also on suspicion of subversion.
Saturday's arrests were slammed by a legal rights group here as an attempt by the government and military to find scapegoats for the bloody riots of the past week. Late Sunday the Movement for Justice and National Unity said the arrests were "an act of panic" by the government. "The questioning of figures such as retired Lieutenant General Kemal Idris and retired Major General Hariadi Dharmawan and others is an act of panic that will only further lower the dignity of the government, and worsen the situation," it said.
The statement was signed by former environment minister Sarwono Kusumaatmaja, a brother of former foreign minister Mochtar Kusumaatmaja. "They picked (Idris) up at around five o'clock and he was accompanied by a lawyer," another source told AFP. Idris and Sadikin are both members of the Barisan National, a group made up mostly of retired generals who describe themselves as a moral force for reform.
Pamungkas, head of the Indonesian Uni-Democratic Party (PUDI), was jailed for insulting Suharto before being included in a release of political prisoners by the fallen president's successor, B.J. Habibie. Pamungkas' wife Ernalia told AFP that her husband's summons cited his involvement in "mobilizing the masses" Saturday when 10,000 students marched on parliament to protest a session of a national assembly they deem undemocratic and a remnant of the discredited Suharto regime.
A close friend of Hariadi said police had detained him for questioning after he and scores of key opposition figures signed and issued a 14-point declaration, on the eve of the clashes that left at least 12 dead and hundreds injured. The declaration, the police said, allegedly contained subversive ideas. "Particularly point number four which suggested for a reform parliament to form a presidium that could act as a temporary government. This was interpreted by the current government as a subversive plot," the friend said.
The UI alumni group chaired by Hariadi, a retired inspector general in the forestry ministry who has become a stern government critic, was the first to launch an anti-government protest at a campus here on February 26. The protests later snowballed into a widespread student movement that led to the resignation of Suharto in May. Several other prominent opposition figures have said they have learned their names are on an "arrest list."
Habibie in a nationally televised broadcast Saturday cited proof of subversion in ordering a crackdown by armed forces chief General Wiranto.
The Indonesian Legal Aid Institute shot back with a press conference late Saturday in which it charged that if anyone was guilty of subversion it was the members of the People's Consulative Asssembly – for failing to meet popular demands for democracy.