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)