Activist set free as 21 colleagues face jail terms

Activist set free as 21 colleagues face jail terms

JAKARTA (JP): A vocal student activist walked out from the
Cipinang Correctional Institution yesterday, on the eve of a
court verdict that may send 21 other activists to a prison like
the one he left.

Bonar Tigor Naipospos, 30 years old, was given a conditional
release by the authorities.

Bonar was sentenced to eight years and six months by the
Yogyakarta District Court in June 1989 for organizing a political
meeting which the court determined was subversive. He was moved
from Yogyakarta prison to Jakarta last February at his request,
because his parents live in the capital.

He was acquitted of the charge of distributing books by
Pramoedya Ananta Tour, whose writings have been declared illegal,
because at the time of his sentencing they had not yet been
banned.

As he was walking out of the prison gates to a tumultuous
hero's welcome by friends and well-wishers, the 21 students who
stand accused of defaming President Soeharto anxiously looked
towards a less auspicious fate. The government's prosecutors are
demanding jail terms of between eight and 18 months.

The Central Jakarta District Court is scheduled to read its
verdict today and many student activists have been urging their
colleagues to turn up in full force to give their support.

Return to campus

Bonar said yesterday that while he intends to remain
politically active, his more immediate concern was now to re-
register at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta and complete his
masters' degree program at the School of Social and Political
Science.

He has another reason however for wanting to go to Yogyakarta
-- to seek the release of two colleagues who were jailed at the
same time also on subversion charges.

"I am happy that I could leave this place sooner than I
expected," Bonar said. "But I am concerned about my friends who
are still in jail for the same reasons. "The first thing I want
to do is to visit these guys."

"I will then go to campus and re-register," said Bonar, who is
one-semester and a thesis away from completing his study.

He was referring to Bambang Subono and Isti Nugroho, now in
Yogyakarta's Wirogunan penitentiary. They were sentenced to eight
year and seven months imprisonment.

Bonar has been closely identified with the Pijar Foundation,
an organization formed six years ago intended to coordinate
student movements in Indonesia.

As part of the conditions for his release, Bonar had to write
up a paper showing his allegiance to the state ideology
Pancasila. He also has to report periodically to the police.

Bonar said he wrote a 12-page article entitled Pancasila is an
open ideology in which he stressed that the ideology bodes well
for the development of democracy and human rights.

Bonar said the process of his release started with a
recommendation from the Jakarta Military Commander Maj. Gen.
Hendropriyono to the Director of Correctional Institute
Baharuddin Lopa.

He was given hope some weeks ago when Lopa had signed the
letter agreeing to his conditional release.

Bonar expects his two friends will appeal to the Central Java
Military Commander for the same purpose.

Bonar also said he hoped the government will be more tolerant
of students who forward their ideas and commute the sentence of
Nuku Soleiman, the student activist who was jailed early this
year for defaming President Soeharto. (prs)