Australian Labor Party's links with PRD studied

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)