Pakpahan, Budiman trials starts<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The first sessions of trials charging 10
\nactivists with subversion against the state went smoothly
\nyesterday, but raised eyebrows for failing to refer to previous
\nallegations that the activists had masterminded the July 27
\nriots.<\/p>\n
Despite the presence of hundreds of military and police, no
\nstrict security measures were applied when Budiman Sudjatmiko,
\nleader of the now outlawed Democratic People's Party (PRD), his
\neight colleagues and prominent labor unionist Muchtar Pakpahan
\nwere tried simultaneously in two different district courts
\nyesterday.<\/p>\n
Budiman, Garda Sembiring, Suroso, Ignatius Pranowo and Yakobus
\nEko Kurniawan were tried in the Central Jakarta District Court,
\nwhile the trials of Muchtar, Petrus Hariyanto, Ken Budha
\nKusumandaru, Victor da Costa and I Putut Arintoko proceeded 15
\nkilometers away at the South Jakarta District Court.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors read the defendants similar accusations of \"having
\ncommitted a series of activities in the past two years which
\ncould either upset, digress or undermine the state ideology of
\nPancasila.\"<\/p>\n
Under Indonesia's colonial-legacy Subversion Law, the charge
\ncarries a maximum penalty of death.<\/p>\n
A throng of activists, diplomats from Canada, the United
\nStates, and Australia, an official from the International
\nConfederation of Free Trade Unions, plain clothes officers and
\ncurious people packed the courtrooms during the hearings which
\nreceived full media coverage.<\/p>\n
Budiman, 26, stole the limelight during the hearings held in
\nCentral Jakarta. Wearing a white shirt, a fresh looking Budiman
\nlistened calmly to prosecutor Mohammad Salim in the trial
\npresided over by Judge Syoffinan Sumantri, which lasted more than
\nan hour.<\/p>\n
Salim unveiled evidence ranging from Budiman and his friends'
\nfailure to specify the Pancasila as the PRD's ideology, their
\ninvolvement in several labor demonstrations, and other activities
\nin quest of the abolition of the 1985 laws on politics and the
\nArmed Forces' socio-political function known as dwi fungsi.<\/p>\n
No riot link<\/p>\n
The prosecutor, however, said nothing about Budiman or his
\nfriends direct involvement in the July 27 riots. Nor did Salim
\nmention a word about \"communism,\" the banned ideology previously
\npinned on the PRD by the authorities.<\/p>\n
The riots broke out on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta,
\nfollowing the forced take-over of the Indonesian Democratic
\nParty's headquarters there. At least four people died, 23 are
\nstill missing and 124 were injured in the riots.<\/p>\n
Soon after the riots, the authorities accused Budiman and his
\nfriends of being behind the unrest.<\/p>\n
\"On July 27 the defendant and other PRD activists were among
\nthe masses involved in the riots around Jalan Diponegoro,\" was
\nall that Salim said about Budiman and his colleagues' role in the
\nunrest.<\/p>\n
Budiman and his friends were arrested in August.<\/p>\n
Budiman told Judge Syoffinan, who had to repeat the question
\nthree times, that he did not understand the charge.<\/p>\n
\"I understand the language (of the charges) but I don't
\nunderstand the substance,\" Budiman said after a brief explanation
\nof the charges from his defense lawyers.<\/p>\n
One of the lawyers, Luhut Pangaribuan, said his client did
\nnothing wrong other than express his ideas, an act that is lawful
\nin the light of the 1945 Constitution.<\/p>\n
\"He did not conduct an armed rebellion, the trial is likely to
\nseek justification, not the truth,\" he said.<\/p>\n
At South Jakarta District Court, prosecutor R. Moekiat accused
\nPakpahan of making a number of subversive and anti-government
\nstatements, such as \"a people power revolution will prevail if a
\nconstitutional reform fails.\"<\/p>\n
Moekiat also said that 43-year-old Pakpahan, leader of the
\nunrecognized Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI), has spread
\nhatred against the government in a book he wrote and in other
\nstatements made between August 1995 and July 27, 1996.<\/p>\n
The indictment said subversive remarks were also made during a
\nspeech at a Portuguese university in February and during an
\ninterview with Dutch television NOVA in July this year at his
\nhome.<\/p>\n
\"The defendant made his remarks which he knew or should have
\nknown could overturn, damage or undermine the authority of the
\nstate and its legal apparatus,\" Moekiat told the court.<\/p>\n
The indictment quoted an incriminating statement released by
\nSBSI on July 1996, signed by Pakpahan, protesting the
\ngovernment's meddling with PDI's internal affairs by engineering
\na rebel party congress a month earlier in Medan, North Sumatra.<\/p>\n
Another Pakpahan statement which directly connected him with
\nthe July 27 riots was an SBSI release on the chronology of the
\nriots. The document accused the military and government-backed
\nPDI chairman Soerjadi of using hoodlums to take over the PDI
\nheadquarters.<\/p>\n
All the trials will resume next Thursday. (08\/amd)<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/pakpahan-budiman-trials-starts-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }