Ina Parlina and Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Chief of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) Lt. Gen. Marciano Norman denied on Saturday an allegation that his agents had held former ruling Democratic Party (PD) chairman Subur Budhisantoso captive.
Many have accused the agency of "kidnapping" Subur to prevent him from speaking in a seminar organized by loyalists of another former party chairman Anas Urbaningrum.
Supporters of Anas first made the accusation. Subur was scheduled to be one of four speakers in a seminar titled "Dynasty versus Political Meritocracy" organized by the Indonesian Movement Association (PPI), a mass organization founded by Anas in September.
Following Subur's no-show, only former General Election Commission (KPU) member and University of Indonesia's (UI) lecturer, Chusnul Mariyah, and Anas spoke in the seminar. Golkar Party lawmaker Bambang Soesatyo failed to attend the program because he was sick.
"That's not true. Why do we have to summon him [by force]? We don't have the need to do such a thing," Marciano told The Jakarta Post.
The kidnapping rumor circulated after the PPI uploaded a video about the dialog on the popular video-sharing website YouTube, late Friday. In the video, PPI's spokesman and an Anas loyalist M. Rahmad gave details about the incident.
"Sri Mulyono, PPI's liaison officer told us that Subur had told him in a phone call that he was being prevented from speaking in the seminar. It seems he [Subur] was restrained to speak in the PPI [dialog]. That's the information we received from Mulyono," Rahmad said. "It's strange that such a practice still happened in a democracy like ours," he said.
Rahmad said that Mulyono failed to pick up Subur at his house on Friday morning and was told that the first Democratic Party chairman was at the BIN headquarters in Pejaten Timur, South Jakarta. A man claiming to be a BIN agent picked up Subur just shortly before Mulyono arrived, he said.
After failing to meet Subur at BIN headquarters on Friday noon Mulyono then called Subur on his cell phone. Subur took the call and said that he was told to wait for Marciano as the BIN chief was still at the palace. "It's weird; we knew that the President was in Yogyakarta at that time," Rahmad said. "So the seminar went on without Subur."
Marciano rejected the claim, saying that "On Friday noon I was having a meeting with Vice President Boediono at the State Palace until late in the afternoon. Before that, I was at my office." "Last Friday, I had no schedule [to meet anyone]," he added.
He also blasted people who started what he called a rumor, maintaining that it was impossible for the BIN to summon an individual by force as it did not have the authority to do so. Marciano also said that he knew Subur, although he had never met him in person.
Subur also denied that the "kidnapping" incident ever took place. "It was wrong, such claims. It is manipulative," he said on Saturday.
However, Subur said he did come to the BIN headquarters to give company to colleagues from Aceh who had schedule to meet with Marciano. The meeting was scheduled at 10 a.m. on Friday.
Subur said, however, the meeting was postponed until 1 p.m. as Marciano had another meeting. Subur also claimed that the group finally met with Marciano's staff members. Subur said that he could have caused the confusion for not contacting Anas to cancel his appearance in the seminar.
"I apparently received an invitation from Anas via a Blackberry message that was delivered to my old phone. I was not aware that the seminar coincided with the BIN meeting. So, without realizing it, I said yes to PPI," Subur said.
Presidential spokesman Julian Aldrian Pasha said the news about Subur's detention could be false and damaging. "This is out of line and slanderous."
Julian said Yudhoyono had ordered an investigation to uncover the source of the information. "The President has ordered all law enforcement agencies to investigate this issue," he added.