Alatas explains execution reports to Dutch guests
Alatas explains execution reports to Dutch guests
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas explained
to Dutch officials yesterday the situation facing two Indonesian
political prisoners.
"What was said by Pak (Mr.) Oetojo Oesman was just a general
explanation and I have conveyed this to the Dutch side," Alatas
told journalists.
Alatas was referring to reports quoting Oetojo, the Minister
of Justice, that two political prisoners would be executed in the
near future after their requests for clemency were recently
rejected by President Soeharto.
Alatas said he had to correct local news reports, which he
described as "inaccurate and not capturing the nuance" of
Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman's statement, for the sake of
the Dutch delegation.
The press reports have coincided with the current visit of
Dutch Queen Beatrix.
The media's publicity of the plight of the political
prisoners, which began before the royal visit, and the arrival of
Beatrix has apparently caused the visiting Dutch delegation to
bring up the matter.
Beatrix arrived here on Monday for an 11-day visit. She left
Jakarta yesterday and is continuing her tour, which includes East
Java, Yogyakarta, North Sulawesi, South Sumatra and West Sumatra.
Accompanying Beatrix on her visit here is Dutch Foreign
Minister Hans Van Mierlo, who held discussions with Alatas on
Monday.
"As if on one side there's the visit by Queen Beatrix, while
on the other there's an announcement that there will be an
execution. It thus raises questions in their minds and in the
Dutch press as to what's going on, because this is a sensitive
issue for them," Alatas remarked.
He explained that Oetojo in his statement was merely
explaining that once an appeal had been rejected, the prisoners
legally have to carry out their sentences, which in this case is
death.
Oetojo did not, according to Alatas, indicate any sort of time
frame.
Minister Oetojo has refused to identify the political
prisoners in question, though it is widely believed to be Chief
Sargent Bungkus and Sgt. Maj. Marsudi, both of whom were members
of President Sukarno's Cakrabirawa security force.
They were sentenced to death by a military tribunal for their
involvement in the 1965 abortive communist coup.
The areas discussed during Monday's meeting between Alatas and
Mierlo included East Timor and labor issues.
Alatas specifically referred to the activities of labor leader
Mochtar Pakpahan and the activist's Prosperous Labor Union of
Indonesia (SBSI) and why the government refuses to recognize its
existence.(mds)