Australian Labor Party's links with PRD studied

JAKARTA (JP): Military authorities in East Java are investigating possible links between the beleaguered People's Democratic Party (PRD) and foreign organizations, including Australia's Labor Party.

Spokesman for the East Java's Brawijaya regional military command Lt. Col. CHB S. Soebagio said Saturday that the authorities got the lead from Dita Indah Sari, a PRD activist detained for her involvement in massive labor protests in Surabaya on July 8 and 9.

Soebagio said Dita admitted to her interrogators she once visited Australia and met with Labor Party officials.

"We are focusing our investigation on Dita's connections with the Australian Labor Party. We suspect that the (Labor) Party has financed the PRD's activities (in Indonesia)," Soebagio was quoted by Antara as saying.

The East Java military authorities also suspects that PRD links up with numerous international organizations, including the Asian Students Association.

PRD is a tiny leftist group comprising mostly student activists known for their advocacy for labor and political demonstrations. It enjoyed publicity after the military accused it of masterminding the July 27-28 riots in Jakarta.

Dita is one of three PRD activists authorities in Surabaya will arraign to court on charges of leading the July 8-9 labor strike. The other two are Coen Husen Pontoh and Moh. Sholeh.

Soebagio, who is also spokesman for the East Java office of the internal security agency (Bakorstanada), said that what the three students did was politically motivated and more than just an ordinary crime.

On July 8 and 9, almost 10,000 workers took to the streets and demanded an increase in their daily minimum wage from Rp 3,900 (US$1.6) to Rp 7,000 and change in a political system that they believe was obstructing democracy.

According to Soebagio, Dita -- who chairs a PRD labor wing, the Center for Labor Strife -- had been behind other labor strikes in Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang, Bekasi, Semarang and Surakarta.

"She was present at every labor protest. She was once arrested in Jakarta but released because the police had no adequate evidence to detain her. Now we have enough evidence of her involvement," he said.

Of the about 60 key PRD leaders, 16 have undergone military training in the Philippines' communist New People's Army camps, he added. They learn how to disguise their political agenda under the guise of democracy and human rights issues, he said.

"Dita is not one of the 16 but she had said she once visited Australia and we are finding out if PRD has links with the Labor Party there," he said.

Bambang said the authorities have found out that 25 percent of PDI's key activists are the offspring of people who had links with the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party. (pan)