Ex-Legislator Faces 34 Months For Calling Suharto Dictator

At a heavily guarded hearing that drew crowds of on-lookers, a former legislator was sentenced Wednesday to 34 months in prison for calling President Suharto a dictator.

Supporters and opponents of Sri Bintang Pamungkas filled the courthouse and surrounding streets, causing a traffic jam in Jakarta’s central business district. Police and soldiers with three armored cars patrolled the area.

Pamungkas was expelled from parliament last year for accusing Suharto of suppressing dissent. He was charged with the criminal offense of insulting the president after he called him a dictator who was “anti-democracy” during a visit to Germany.

Suharto, a former army general, took power in 1966 after a failed coup attempt. An army-dominated assembly elected him president in 1968, and he has been re-elected, running unopposed, every five years since then.

“It was legally proven and without doubt that the defendant has deliberately insulted the Indonesian president,” said Judge Sofinan Sumantri.

He said even though Pamungkas spoke in Germany, “such a conduct violated Indonesian laws.”

Pamungkas, a 51-year-old lecturer at the University of Indonesia, said he would appeal.