A time to forgive

"Don't let me die in prison," former foreign minister Soebandrio pleaded many times during his imprisonment. In 1967, he was sentenced to death for his involvement in the 1965 abortive communist coup. His sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.

For years his plea seemed unheeded. But, yesterday, what was regarded by many as an impossible thing happened: President Soeharto granted a special pardon to him and two other people, former Air Force commander Marshall Omar Dhani and former deputy chief of the Intelligence Body (BPI) Brig. Gen. R.S. Soetarto, who were also serving life sentences. The three of them will be free men by Aug. 16, just one day before the golden anniversary of the Republic of Indonesia.

The pardon, announced in a very cautious and well-worded statement by State Secretary Moerdiono yesterday, is an indication that the government is fully aware that a certain part of society, notably the Armed Forces (ABRI), may not be very happy with the decision. In the last fortnight, numerous ABRI members have aired their concern about the possibility of such a pardon. Several comments similar to the statement made the other day by the Commander of the Armed Forces, Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung, have been heard. Gen. Feisal said that, "ABRI will never forgive the communist party (PKI)."

Apparently, to ease the tension before the announcement (the decision to pardon the three men was signed by President Soeharto in early June and surely certain people have been aware of this) of late some officials have been trying to float the idea that the three soon-to-be-released men are not "communist diehards".

It is obvious that there has been an effort made to differentiate between the "diehards" and the "fellow-travelers", such as Soebandrio, Omar Dhani and R.S. Soetarto. Moerdiono's statement that the three men, based on the records of their trials, were not members of the communist party was a final touch to ensure that nobody will question President Soeharto's pardons. Still, one might be mystified as to why the fact that the three men were not communist party members was never disclosed before.

Although the pardon has its legal and political foundations, it is apparent that humanitarian reasons were the main factor behind the release of these men. Soebandrio is 80 years old. Omar Dhani is 71, while R.S. Soetarto, 77, has been in the hospital since May last year. These men all exhibited good conduct during their period of incarceration, and considering their age, they could not possibly pose a danger to the nation anymore.

We are of the opinion that their release is a wise decision, which deserves praise. With this decision, the president has not only shown wisdom and statesmanship, but also has sent a message to the whole nation and the world as well, that we are truly a humane and forgiving nation.

But, one should not expect similar pardons to be granted to former communist diehards, such as former Col. Latief. The message conveyed by top ABRI officials is loud and clear: No pardon to former PKI diehards. Thus, one can expect that the phrase "the latent danger of PKI" will remain with us for a long time to come, although obviously it is becoming more difficult to find evidence of the perceived danger.

And without the setting forth of clear-cut evidence of the perceived latent danger, we are afraid that our younger, better- educated generation, who never experienced the communist threat, may perceive the idea of a threat as just an obsolete concept kept alive for unknown reasons.

The question then is, when can the nation fully forget the trauma of the communist coup? Isn't there a time to hate and a time to forgive? If we are really committed to the democratization process, should we not close the book on our political detainees and prisoners once and for all?

We may not get the answer soon. But, whatever the answer is, we believe that now the coming celebration of our golden anniversary will be much happier, for we have made some peace with our past, and because we know that there will be tears of joy and happiness for some of our fellow countrymen.