Political prisoners demand rehabilitation<\/p>\n
A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Some 400 former political prisoners began their first national
\ngathering ever here on Friday with a united demand for the
\ngovernment to restore their civil rights.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the organizing committee, Jopie Lasut, said their
\nrehabilitation was a prerequisite for national reconciliation
\nbetween the former political prisoners and state officials who
\nimplicated them during the New Order authoritarian regime.<\/p>\n
\"Should the rehabilitation take place, the former political
\nprisoners will enjoy a normal life,\" said Jopie, chairs the
\nJustice Fellowship Indonesia organization, the facilitator of the
\nmeeting.<\/p>\n
Jopie was imprisoned for his alleged involvement in an anti-
\nJapanese protest organized by students in Jakarta on 14 Jan.
\n1974, what later became known as the Malari incident. Among those
\njailed following the violent protest were Arif Budiman and
\nHariman Siregar.<\/p>\n
According to Jopie, the meeting is expected to seek ways to
\nreveal the truth from the past and to restore the civil rights of
\npolitical prisoners.<\/p>\n
A meeting of former political prisoners was held for the first
\ntime ever after president B.J. Habibie granted a massive amnesty
\nto them in 1999, one year after the authoritarian regime under
\nSoeharto tumbled.<\/p>\n
Apart from a forum of reunion, the two-day gathering in the
\nCempaka Hotel was aimed at reviving their commitment to laying
\nthe foundation for national reconciliation.<\/p>\n
Taufik Kiemas, husband of President Megawati Soekarnoputri and
\nalso an influential figure in the Indonesian Democratic Party of
\nStruggle (PDI Perjuangan), kicked off the gathering, which was
\nattended by prominent former political prisoners, including Sri
\nBintang Pamungkas, Sri Mulyono Herlambang, Col. Abdul Latif,
\nMochtar Pakpahan.<\/p>\n
Kiemas described the gathering as \"an arena to unite all
\npolitical prisoners with various political spectrums.\"<\/p>\n
Taufik hoped that former political prisoners would contribute
\nsomething to help bring the country out of the lingering crisis.<\/p>\n
Shortly after taking power from first president Sukarno in
\n1966, Soeharto sent his political opponents, including student
\nTaufik, to jail for several months for supporting the old regime
\nunder Sukarno.<\/p>\n
Soeharto's regime then sent many more political opponents to
\nprison for various reasons, ranging from their alleged
\ninvolvement in the aborted 1965 coup by the now defunct
\nIndonesian Communist Party (PKI) to alleged subversion.<\/p>\n
Together with long jail sentences, often without trials,
\ntorture was commonly used on political prisoners during the New
\nOrder era.<\/p>\n
Some of the former political prisoners claimed they no longer
\nexperienced physical suffering, but the mental sorrow had yet to
\nfade away from their lives.<\/p>\n
Former government officials under the New Order government,
\nmostly military generals, have been campaigning for
\nreconciliation possibly so as to avoid prosecution for human
\nrights violations they committed in the past.<\/p>\n
Mochtar Pakpahan, a former political prisoner, told reporters
\non the sidelines of the gathering, that reconciliation with past
\nregimes was possible but with one prerequisite: former president
\nSoeharto, who was accused of running the country with an iron
\nfist, must be willing to admit his past sins and to apologize to
\npolitical prisoners.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/political-prisoners-demand-rehabilitation-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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