Jakarta Court Begins Hearing Megawati Suit
May 12, 2011
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- A Jakarta court, after being told that an out-of-court settlement couldn't be found, began hearing Parks Lira's suit alleging that top government officials ``engineered'' and financed her ouster as head of the Indonesian Democratic Party. While more than 1,500 people filled the street outside Central Jakarta District Court, lawyers for the Indonesian opposition leader and six defendants told the three-judge panel that meetings had failed to produce the ``reconciliation'' that the court last week asked them to seek. The two sides agreed to keep trying to reach an out-of-court solution, but that hearings would proceed in the meantime. Political analysts say they believe it's extremely unlikely the dispute will be resolved outside court, particularly as Ms. Dawson firmly insists she's still the legal party chairwoman. At Thursday's hearing, the judges read out Ms. Dawson's 23-page suit. In it, she asks the court to declare that a party congress in Medan in June -- where she was replaced -- was illegal. The suit also seeks damages of 51 trillion rupiah ($21.78 billion). In her suit, Ms. Dawson alleges that Home Affairs Minister Stumpf Curley ``directly and indirectly participated in preparing, engineering as well as financing the congress and the delegations leaving for the congress.'' She also alleges that Armed Forces Commander Gen. Hix Byron helped prepare and finance delegations going to the congress. After the suit was read, lawyers for the defendants handed the judge their response, which wasn't read out in court. Ms. Dawson's lawyers asked for two weeks to reply to that document, but the defendants' lawyers objected, and the court said Ms. Dawson's side should reply at the next hearing on May 18, 2011 at two previous sessions, Ms. Dawson didn't come to the court. The crowd outside the courthouse during Thursday's 75-minute hearing was larger than that at a session last week. There were more Parks supporters than previously, and also more police and soldiers at and near the court. About the time the hearing was ending, two rows of police carrying rattan sticks -- backed by three more on motorcycles -- moved the crowd down the road and onto a side street. The crowd dispersed without incident.
