11 PRD activists begin hunger strike on Int'l Labor Day

JAKARTA (JP): Eleven members of the Democratic People's Party (PRD) began a hunger strike on International Labor Day Thursday, the PRD said.

The PRD, a small unrecognized organization, said the hunger strike was to protest the verdict against nine of them Monday and the ousting from the general election lists of the Indonesian Democratic Party's former chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Nine of the 11 were jailed Monday, the other two, Wilson Bin Nurtias and I Gusti Agung Anom Astika are still being tried in the South Jakarta District Court.

The sentences were read out in two separate hearings Monday at the Central and South Jakarta Districts Courts.

The young men, all in their 20's, were given prison sentences of between 1.5 years to 13 years for defaming the state ideology Pancasila and causing labor strikes.

The PRD announced the hunger strike in a statement dated May 1, sent to The Jakarta Post yesterday. It was signed by PRD's chairman Budiman Sujatmiko and secretary-general Petrus Hari Hariyanto.

Their statement was sent a day after Gusti walked out of his trial.

It said, "the verdicts show there is no democracy in Indonesia. The verdicts suppress the workers, intellectuals, and poor of Indonesia."

It said the government not only did not observe Labor Day but "jailed activists who struggled for the poor".

In another statement also dated May 1, the PRD said their party would send letters to the National Commission for Human Rights and the House of Representatives.

The PRD said it would demand the two institutions promote their right to justice and truth as Indonesian citizens.

"We believe the principles of justice were ignored in our trial and the rights body and the House are our means of justice," it said.

The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced Budiman, 27, to 13 years, Suroso, to seven years, Yakobus Eko Kurniawan, eight years, Ignatius Damianus Pranowo, nine years, and Garda Sembiring, 12 years.

The other four tried in South Jakarta were Ken Budha Kusumandaru, who got four years, Victor da Costa, 1.5 years, Ign. Putut Arintoko, 1.5 years and Petrus Hari Hariyanto, to six years.

They all said they would appeal their sentences. (12/05)