Siswono calls for fair treatment of PRD members<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Former youth activist Siswono Yudohusodo said
\nover the weekend that the detained members of the Democratic
\nPeople's Party (PRD) should be treated fairly and that the
\n\"radical youths\" be given the opportunity to reform.<\/p>\n
Siswono, also the minister of transmigration and resettlement
\nof forest squatters, made the call during a political discussion
\nheld by the National Committee of Indonesian Youth. He then
\ncriticized the condemnation by various social and religious
\ngroups heaped on the small leftist youth organization accused of
\nundermining the government by inciting the July 27 rioting in
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
\"The youths, whose radical activities often might have
\ndisturbed security, are actually people who can be reformed,\" he
\nsaid. \"Those who committed radical actions during the July 27
\nriots should be treated well and in accordance with the law.<\/p>\n
\"They are still young. PRD chairman Budiman Sudjatmiko, for
\nexample, is the same age that Theo Sambuaga was when he was
\ncarrying out radical actions during the 1974 Malari student
\nprotest,\" he said. \"Now Theo has turned out to be a very well
\nbehaved youth figure.\"<\/p>\n
Siswono was referring to a Golkar member on the House
\nCommission I for foreign, political and security affairs.<\/p>\n
Theo Sambuaga was among the university student leaders who led
\nan anti-Japanese demonstration in 1974 known by the Indonesian-
\nacronym Malari. The Malari incident on Jan. 15 deteriorated into
\nuncontrolled rioting that left Jakarta's main shopping and
\nbusiness areas paralyzed for days.<\/p>\n
Budiman, 27, is among 10 PRD members who have been detained
\nsince mid-August for allegedly inciting the July 27 riots, which
\nkilled, according to the National Commission on Human Rights,
\nfive people and injured scores of others. The riots erupted after
\nthe storming of the PDI's headquarters -- then occupied by
\nloyalists of the deposed Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) leader
\nMegawati Soekarnoputri -- by supporters of the new PDI chairman
\nSoerjadi.<\/p>\n
The PRD members are now facing subversion charges, which can
\ncarry the death penalty. All are being held at the detention
\ncenter of the Attorney General's Office in South Jakarta. The
\noffice has also detained labor activist Muchtar Pakpahan on the
\nsame charges.<\/p>\n
Admitting that he was once sentenced to four years in prison
\nin the 1960s for radicalism, Siswono cited himself as an example
\nof how radicals could change into \"better people\".<\/p>\n
\"Now that the riots have been handled, and those considered to
\nbe behind the rioting have been detained, they should be treated
\nwell...because they will certainly be able to reform.<\/p>\n
\"Statements full of sarcasm, such as those coming from ulemas
\nwho condemn and state apparatus members who threaten to
\n'eliminate' and 'purge' (the activists) don't give the picture of
\na democratic situation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"Instead, those statements sound authoritarian.\"<\/p>\n
In another part of his discussion, Siswono noted that the
\nbureaucracy has grown to be very strong over the last 25 years.
\nThe increasing power of the bureaucracy has resulted in a
\nperception that development is merely \"state sponsored\".<\/p>\n
Now people are starting to demand a more open political
\nsystem, he said. (imn\/swe)<\/p>",
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