Jakarta – The Supreme Court continued hearing on Thursday a lawsuit demanding the dissolution of the Golkar Party following allegations of graft and violations of the law on political parties and general elections.
The session, presided over by judge Asma Samik Ibrahim, was tightly guarded by security personnel. About 100 people grouped under the Jakarta People staged a protest outside the Supreme Court, demanding the Golkar Party be dissolved, Antara reported.
Inside the courtroom, lawyers from both sides became involved in a series of debates as the court failed to present witnesses in the case, namely Minister of Finance Rizal Ramli, Minister of Defense Mahfud M.D., former Supreme Advisory Board chief A.A.Baramuli, former State Logistics Agency (Bulog) chief Rahardi Ramelan and Harianto Sahari of accountancy firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers.
The session continued following the court's decision to allow former General Election Commission (KPU) member Sri Bintang Pamungkas to testify. Golkar's legal representatives had objected to allowing him to testify, saying Sri Bintang was one of the parties that filed the lawsuit against the Golkar Party so his testimony "will not be objective".
After the court assured both sides that Sri Bintang would only testify about his work as a KPU member, the court hear his testimony. While testifying, Sri Bintang became in numerous arguments with Golkar's legal representatives.
Golkar's legal representatives present at Thursday's session were O.C. Kaligis, Hotma Sitompoel, Ruhut Sitompul, Yan Juanda Saputra and Tommy Sihotang. A first lawsuit was filed against the Golkar Party by the New Order's Victims Association, led by Pribadio and represented by lawyer R.O. Tambunan.
The group has accused Golkar of breaking Article 14 of Law No. 2/1999 on political party donations, which stipulates that a party can only receive a maximum of Rp 15 million (US$1,500) per year from individuals and Rp 150 million per year from corporations, organizations and institutions. The group said that in the run-up to the 1999 general election, Golkar received donations of Rp 90 billion from Bulog, Rp 5 billion from Bank Bali and Rp 1 billion from A.A. Baramuli.
A second lawsuit against Golkar Party was filed by 50 members of the People's Movement, led by Sri Bintang Pamungkas, who is also the chief of the Indonesian Democratic Union Party (PUDI). The People's Movement accused the Golkar Party of failing to live up to the principles of fairness and justice in the 1999 general election, saying that therefore the party "should be dissolved as it breached the law on political parties".