Police summon writer over alleged assault

JAKARTA: Police will summon George Junus Aditjondro, the writer of a controversial account on 2009's Bank Century scandal, as a suspect in the alleged assault of a lawmaker from his Democratic Party.

"*Aditjondro* is due for questioning today," South Jakarta Police precinct chief Snr. Comr. Gatot Edy Pramono said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Aditjondro is the writer of Membongkar Gurita Cikeas: Di Balik Skandal Bank Century (Unmasking the Cikeas Octopus: Behind the Bank Century Scandal), in which he alleges that Yudhoyono's election campaign team and the Democratic Party received illegal funds from the bank bailout.

Even though Aditjondro has been summoned as a suspect, the police are yet to decide if he is to be charged.

On Saturday, he said he had not yet received notice from the police on his legal status and that it was unethical for the authorities to name him a suspect without notice.

The alleged assault happened during a heated debate at the launch of the book in December. Lawmaker Ramadhan Pohan, in his capacity as a former chief editor of Jurnal Nasional - a newspaper controlled by Yudhoyono - rejected Aditjondro's allegation that the daily accepted billions of rupiah from Bank Century. Footage exists of Aditjondro throwing a copy of his book at Ramadhan's face. - JP