Activists refute charges

JAKARTA (JP): Ten activists standing trial on charges of subversion pledged their innocence yesterday, describing the charges as a government attempt to silence its critics.

In separate sessions that drew large, enthusiastic crowds, they said the charges were barely related to the allegations made by police, when they were arrested, that they incited the July 27 riots.

Independent labor union leader Muchtar Pakpahan and nine defendants from the banned People's Democratic Party (PRD) were presenting their defense before the courts.

Adnan Buyung Nasution, who led Pakpahan's defense team, told the South Jakarta District Court the charges were groundless because what Pakpahan had done was simply raise the issue of socio-economic disparity, which is academically acceptable.

"It is normal for a man with a doctoral degree like Pakpahan to comprehend these issues -- which have in fact been widely discussed in many academic fora and by analysts in the mass media," Buyung said.

"What is going on now is a trial of thought. From any judicial point of view, it is impossible to use legal principles to try somebody's thoughts," Buyung told the court presided over by judge M. Djazuli.

Buyung also said the court did not have the competence to arraign Pakpahan for his ideas. "The appropriate place for debates on this issue is the People's Consultative Assembly, not the court" he said.

Pakpahan's lawyers said there were strong indications the government intended to clamp down on labor movements in the country as demonstrated by the indictment which targeted Pakpahan as the leader of the unrecognized Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI), not as an individual.

Touching on the 1963 subversion law resorted to by the prosecutor to nab Pakpahan, Buyung said the law contradicted the country's principle of people's sovereignty and was outdated.

Prosecutor Moekiat said last week the 43-year-old Pakpahan had sown hatred against the government in a book he wrote and in other statements made between August 1995 and July 27, 1996.

The indictment said subversive remarks were also made during a speech at Oporto University in Portugal last February and during an interview at his home with Dutch television NOVA in July this year.

Pakpahan and the PRD activists were arrested for allegedly inciting the July 27 riots which followed a forced takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party's headquarters. The riots left at least five people dead and 23 missing.

The South Jakarta District Court also heard the rebuttals of PRD activists, Petrus Hariyanto, Ken Budha Kusumandaru, Victor da Costa and Ignatius Putut Arintoko.

Security was light during the court sessions in South Jakarta, but visitors were required to sign a guest book. All but one of the defendants' families, and some prominent government critics, including H.J.C. Princen, were present.

Scapegoat

Related hearings on PRD leader Budiman Sudjatmiko, Garda Sembiring, Suroso, Ignatius Pranowo and Yakobus Eko Kurniawan proceeded at the Central Jakarta District Court yesterday.

Budiman told the court the charges were an attempt by the authorities to find a scapegoat for the bloody July riots.

"Troubled water will turn turgid, especially if it is stirred by somebody who wants to clean his or her dirty hands," Budiman told the court.

Budiman, Garda Sembiring, Suroso, Ignatius Pranowo and Yakobus Eko Kurniawan were sent to court accused of trying to replace the state ideology Pancasila, an offense which carries a maximum penalty of death if convicted, with social democracy.

Budiman's team of five defense lawyers told the court the trial had nothing to do with the reasons given for the arrest of the activists. They also said the arrests had violated Criminal Code Procedures because they took place without an arrest warrant.

"The prosecutor's indictment is unclear, inaccurate and incomplete because it does not mention the arrest allegations that Budiman and his PRD company incited the July 27 riots," Luhut Pangaribuan, one of the lawyers, said.

Prosecutor Mohammad Salim read a list of Budiman and his fellow activists' alleged sins which ranged from inciting labor demonstrations, organizing open speeches criticizing the government to setting up a party. Salim related their involvement in the riots to the fact that "they were among crowd on July 27."

"The defendants committed no crime because their activities are guaranteed by the Constitution," Pangaribuan said.

Crowds who packed the courtroom cheered and applauded the lawyers during the hearing, only to receive a warning from judge Syoffinan Sumantri.

The trials will resume Monday with the prosecutors' replies to the rebuttals. (08/amd)

Protest -- Page 2