Activists refute charges

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country's principle of people's sovereignty and was outdated.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