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span class="caption" style="width: 235px;">Munarman: (Kompas)Islam Defenders Front (FPI) spokesman Munarman said on Friday he had no regrets after throwing water at University of Indonesia (UI) sociologist Thamrin Amal Tomagola during a live television talk show.

Munarman said that he had the right to do what he did because he was disgruntled with one of Thamrin'€™s responses during the talk show discussion, which centered on the police ban of public sweepings during Ramadhan.

The incident, which took place in front of National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar, began when Munarman gave his perspective on the ban against organizations, such as his, forcibly closing entertainment sites during the fasting month.

Thamrin tried to respond to Munarman'€™s opinion but rather than listening, the latter took his glass of water and threw the contents at Thamrin.

'€œShut up when I am talking,'€ Munarman, who holds a degree in law and was once the coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), exclaimed.

During the discussion, Thamrin referred to an international award presented to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in recognition of his work to promote pluralism and human rights as a motivation to provide more protection to every citizen in the country.

Thamrin said that Munarman did not like it when he mentioned the award received by the President, even though Thamrin did not refer to any religious mass organization during the talk show.

Munarman, according to Thamrin, considered all his arguments unfounded and the discussion turned into a hot debate when Munarman questioned the correlation between the topic and the award.

'€œHe threw water at me. I kept quiet and tried not to respond to it,'€ Thamrin said.

Thamrin said that his wife started to cry when she witnessed the incident and suggested that he file a report with the police.

Thamrin said he would not report Munarman to the police for throwing the water.

'€œI told my wife that I wouldn'€™t file any report. Let the public make its own judgment on the incident. I will let the police take action as the incident took place in public and Pak Boy witnessed it first-hand,'€ he said.

'€œThe incident certainly violated ethical behavior and, therefore, people make their own assessments,'€ Thamrin said.

Commenting on this, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said the police would only follow up if Thamrin filed a report.

'€œWe will follow up on the report if Thamrin decides to file one,'€ he said. (hrl)