Labor leader Pakpahan taken to hospital<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Detained labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan was taken
\nto hospital Friday night, four days after he exploded in court
\naccusing a judge of ignoring his poor health.<\/p>\n
The decision to send him to the private Cikini Hospital was
\nmade at the recommendation of the prison doctor, his lawyer,
\nIrianto Subiakto, told The Jakarta Post yesterday.<\/p>\n
As of yesterday, he was still very weak, Irianto said.<\/p>\n
Pakpahan, chairman of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union
\n(SBSI), was detained at Cipinang Correctional Institution pending
\nthe outcome of his trial on subversion charges.<\/p>\n
Irianto said Pakpahan was being treated for nerve problems,
\nbut an SBSI staff member, Rekson Silaban, said he had suffered
\nvertigo, sinusitis and heart ailments.<\/p>\n
Pakpahan's trial at the South Jakarta District Court was cut
\nshort Monday because of his deteriorating health, but not before
\njudge Djazuli P. Sudibyo accused him of indulging in a publicity
\nstunt.<\/p>\n
This led to an unusual outburst by Pakpahan, who insisted that
\nhe needed medical attention.<\/p>\n
He had earlier been \"ping-ponged\" by the various government
\nagencies who required that he produce various letters before his
\nrequest for treatment could be granted. One of the letters needed
\nto come from the judge, who refused to supply one, saying he had
\ngiven an oral order that the suspect be looked at by prison
\ndoctors.<\/p>\n
Silaban said that at 1.00 a.m. Friday, Pakpahan's condition
\nturned for the worse and he was brought to the jail's clinic.<\/p>\n
\"In the morning, he asked to be taken to a hospital. After
\nvarious procedures, they brought him to the hospital at 8.00
\np.m.,\" Silaban said.<\/p>\n
His wife, Rosintan, was at his hospital bedside yesterday.<\/p>\n
He was vomiting in the morning and complained of a severe
\nheadache. \"He looked so pale,\" she told the Post by phone.<\/p>\n
Pakpahan's room was continuously guarded by security officers
\n-- three during the day, and four in the evening, Rosintan said.<\/p>\n
While she is allowed to accompany Pakpahan in the room, other
\nvisitors, including relatives and SBSI staff, could only see him
\nthrough a glass window, she said.<\/p>\n
Pakpahan underwent a C.A.T scan yesterday; the result was not
\nyet known, she added.<\/p>\n
Doctors at the Cikini hospital could not be reached for
\ncomment.<\/p>\n
Pakpahan is currently being tried on charges of undermining
\nthe legitimate government through various speeches and statements
\nhe made between 1995 and 1996. The subversion law carries the
\nmaximum penalty of death.<\/p>\n
He has also yet to complete a four-year jail term meted to him
\nin 1994 for inciting workers' riots in Medan, North Sumatra. The
\nSupreme Court has upheld the jail term, but Pakpahan has filed
\nfor a review of his case in the Supreme Court. (05)<\/p>",
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