Carmel set to keep on contributing<\/p>\n
By Helly Minarti<\/p>\n
LONDON (JP): Few of us have had the privilege of witnessing a
\nvital part of history taking place, and not many of the few who
\ndo manage to survive to see the tables turn. British-born Carmel
\nBudiardjo, founder of Tahanan Politik (political prisoners,
\nTapol), is one of the few caught in the middle of the most
\nturbulent times in Indonesian modern history in the mid 1960s and
\nlived to see things change.<\/p>\n
Married to Suwondo Budiardjo, an Indonesian, Carmel moved to
\nIndonesian and took out citizenship. She was arrested in 1968 and
\nimprisoned for three years without trial because of her so-called
\nlinks to the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), of which she was
\nnever a member.<\/p>\n
\"That really changed my life. I became a human rights activist
\nnot because I studied human rights theoretically. It's very much
\nbecause I was a victim,\" she said rather emotionally. After such
\nlong years in oblivion --she was arrested in 1968, three years
\nafter the Sept. 30 abortive coup -- during which her British
\nfamily and friends tried many ways to obtain her release, she was
\nfinally given her freedom in 1971. Because her British
\ncitizenship had been reinstated, she was forced to leave
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
\"I felt I had a very, very strong moral obligation in a way --
\nI had to be careful not to use it -- it was like as if I had
\nbetrayed the other women (that stayed),\" she said. \"Of course, I
\ndiscussed it with some other women in prison, that I felt rather
\nmean to leave. Should I do this ... and they said, 'yeah, go...
\ngo ... go, tell our stories. It's not a courageous thing to
\nstay'.\"<\/p>\n
So she left for England in November 1971, leaving behind her
\nhusband, who remained imprisoned for another seven years. Back in
\nLondon, she established Tapol in 1973. The organization was
\ninitially set up to campaign for the release of political
\nprisoners in Indonesia, but it later expanded to deal with any
\nhuman rights violation in the country.<\/p>\n
Since then Tapol has been engaged in campaigns concerning the
\nEast Timor issue, Aceh and many other cases related to human
\nrights violations. In a recent letter to President Abdurrahman
\nWahid, the organization appealed to him to settle the bloody
\nincidents of Tanjung Priok in 1984 and of Lampung in 1987.<\/p>\n
Politics has never really been far from Carmel's life. Born to
\na Jewish family in 1925, Carmel had been always drawn to student
\npolitical activities. After finishing her studies she attended
\nseveral international student conferences. Among them was one
\nwhich took place in Prague in 1946. A year later she got a job at
\nthe secretariat of the International Union of Students (IUS),
\nwhere she met an Asian crowd and was soon drawn to a small circle
\nof Indonesian students. \"I don't know why (in her book she said
\nthat she really enjoyed their relaxed and sociable manner). But
\nit was my turning point, when I got to know Indonesians,\" she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Carmel fell in love with one of them, Suwondo Budiardjo, whom
\nshe married in 1950. Two years later she and their eldest
\ndaughter, Tari, moved to Jakarta, following Budiardjo. In
\nJakarta, Carmel soon settled in, first as a translator for Antara
\nnews agency, and later as a researcher at the foreign ministry.
\nShe later attended the University of Indonesia and obtained a
\nmaster's degree in economics. From there she embarked on a
\nteaching career.<\/p>\n
In her spare time, Carmel helped translate documents for the
\nPKI, an activity that later brought her under suspicion in regard
\nto her possible involvement in the 1965 coup attempt.<\/p>\n
\"Why I was close to them? I don't know. My political
\npreferences have always been very left-wing. I was particularly
\nattracted by the PNI (Indonesian National Party).\"<\/p>\n
During her years in prison, unlike many other Indonesian women
\nprisoners whose experiences she witnessed, Carmel did not go
\nthrough any physical torture except a series of interrogations,
\nwhich is etched in her mind as a haunting experience at the hands
\nof a soldier named Atjep.<\/p>\n
\"Thanks for reminding me of his name. I was trying to
\nremember it last night,\" she said, casually. \"I don't feel
\nrevengeful. But I do think he should be tried for very, very
\nserious crime -- if he is still alive.\"<\/p>\n
She also has no regrets that some of her activities were often
\ncynically viewed by the former Indonesia's government, which
\nstamped her \"the anti-Indonesia activist\". When she contributed
\nto John Pilger's film Death of A Nation: The Timor Conspiracy, it
\nwas deemed by one critic in this newspaper as providing \"loony
\nliterature\" on Indonesia. \"I was one of his main sources for his
\nfilm on East Timor, and I think Pilger made a good and powerful
\nfilm,\" said Carmel firmly.<\/p>\n
In her memoirs, Surviving Indonesia's Gulag (recently
\ntranslated into bahasa Indonesia), Carmel records not only the
\nhardships she endured behind bars, but also relates the stories
\nof other Indonesian prisoners who went through a much rougher
\ntime and ends it with the hope \"that I live long enough to
\ncelebrate his (Soeharto) downfall and demise, and to see the
\ncreation of a democratic Indonesia\".<\/p>\n
Now that the wish has come true, Carmel surprisingly fell
\nsilent when asked how she felt about it, taking quite a moment
\nto cautiously arrange her words. \"I think it was something great
\nto celebrate. I kept this newspaper -- I think it was The Jakarta
\nPost's I QUIT headline (short laugh).<\/p>\n
\"Yes, I think this is, well, a huge relief for almost
\neverybody,\" she said rather flatly. \"But personally, for me
\nSoeharto's major crimes are not so much corruption, (but) the
\ncrime against humanity that started right back in 1965, (which)
\nmade everything possible (for him).\"<\/p>\n
Her husband was released in 1978 and soon after followed her
\nto Britain. But the couple later split up. \"I think the prison
\nexperience has broken up a lot of families. In some cases it
\nbrings you together, in others it pulls you apart,\" she pondered.
\n\"After my release, I came to Britain and I became very much
\npreoccupied with human rights. And I think when he came here, our
\nrelationship was already very loose by then. But it's also
\nbecause I was running this organization and it was very difficult
\nfor him to fit into this. He just wanted a completely different
\nworld of his own.\"<\/p>\n
Even in the era of reform, Carmel's name remains on a
\nblacklist, barring her entry into Indonesia. She wrote to Gus
\nDur, as the Indonesian President is popularly called and who she
\nhopes will bring good changes to Indonesia, appealing to him to
\nhave her name removed from the blacklist. \"I would like to do
\nthree things when I visit Indonesia. First, to meet all my prison
\nmates. I'm always getting messages from them.<\/p>\n
\"Second, to meet the present generations, activists, people
\nwho are young enough to be my grandchildren with whom I have a
\nlot of links because I had for quite a few years been exchanging
\ninformation. Third, to meet my husband's family.\"<\/p>\n
Now, in her mid 70s, Carmel Budiardjo shows neither the
\nfrailty nor vulnerability of a person her age, except for a
\nhearing aid. She moves swiftly around her South London house from
\nwhere she also runs Tapol with four others.<\/p>\n
\"This is what keeps me going, fit and reasonably healthy
\nbecause I think I've got a lot to do. And I think I'll go on
\ncontributing,\" said the mother of two and grandmother of four,
\nnone of whom live in Indonesia anymore.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/carmel-set-to-keep-on-contributing-1447893297",
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