The Central Jakarta District Court postponed on Tuesday the first hearing of a lawsuit filed by the United Development Party (PPP) leadership led by Djan Faridz, which was elected in a national meeting (Muktamar) in Jakarta in November 2014, against the government.

Presiding judge Baslin Sinaga said the hearing was postponed because no representative of the government appeared at the hearing scheduled to start at 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

“This hearing is adjourned until March 29,” Baslin said.

As earlier reported, the Djan camp filed a lawsuit against President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan and Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H.Laoly for allegedly violating Supreme Court Decree No. 601/2015, which recognized Djan's leadership.

In February, the Law and Human Rights Ministry reinstated a decree that recognized the PPP leadership decided on at a national meeting in Bandung, West Java, in 2011.

The ministry’s decision was aimed at resolving a leadership battle that has split the party into two factions, namely the Djan-led PPP leadership and a splinter faction led by Muhammad Romahurmuziy from the Surabaya national meeting in October 2014. At the 2011 Bandung meeting, then religious affairs minister Suryadharma Ali was appointed party chairman and Romahurmuziy its general secretary.

In the Djan-led camp’s lawsuit, Jokowi, Luhut and Yasonna have been named first, second and third defendant, respectively.

Jokowi did not meet the court’s summons for the first hearing on Tuesday, but was represented by two State Secretariat staff members, namely Yudi Sugara and Risko. Meanwhile, neither Luhut nor Yasonna appeared at court nor sent representatives.

The court said it would again summon Luhut and Yasonna for the March 29 hearing .The court said it had also ordered Yudi and Risko to submit a letter from the President appointing them as his representatives in the case.

The Djan camp filed the lawsuit against the government on Feb.18 after, via the law and human rights minister, it reinstated the party's leadership from the 2011 Bandung meeting. The government also instructed the leadership to hold a reconciliation congress within six months.

The Djan camp is suing the government for Rp 1 trillion (US$75.93 million) for material and non-material losses.

"Of the total material losses, Rp 7 billion, is the amount of money the government must pay as part of its political party fund in 2015. We did not receive it," Humphrey Djemat, the Djan camp's lead lawyer, said after the hearing on Tuesday.

Humphrey claimed the Djan camp experienced untold non-material losses due to uncertainties over its political rights, following the reinstating of the PPP leadership from the 2011 Bandung meeting, and widespread disbelief among PPP members on the legality of the party’s leadership from the 2014 Jakarta national meeting.

Humphrey was selected as the deputy chairman of the party's central executive board during the 2014 national meeting in Jakarta. (ebf)

Popular

Undoing the sweet aftermath of Eid festivities

Indonesia may offer dual citizenship to attract overseas workers

Indonesia may offer dual citizenship to attract overseas workers, minister says