Bans on PRD, critical book lifted, court rules
JAKARTA (JP): A court has lifted the ban on the Democratic People's Party (PRD) which was blamed for the July 1996 riots and the Attorney General's Office has overturned the ban on a book written by labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan.
The developments were announced here yesterday by lawyers from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute.
Paulus Mahulette, who represented the PRD in the case against their ban, said a panel of judges presided over by Is Sudarianto at the Jakarta State Administrative Court annulled the Minister of Home Affairs decree banning the organization, saying it was unlawful.
In their argument, the judges said the PRD was a political organization and should therefore have been subject to the 1985 law on political organizations.
The ban was based on the 1975 law on mass organizations, "so it (the decree banning the organization) was inappropriate," Paulus, who filed the lawsuit against the government over the ban earlier this year, said in a statement yesterday.
In September 1997, the government outlawed the PRD and its affiliate organizations and ordered its members to dissolve the party.
The Minister of Home Affairs, the National Police, the Attorney General's Office, the Armed Forces Headquarters and the State Intelligence Coordinating Body said in a joint statement then that the PRD and its affiliate organizations had disturbed national stability and order.
The announcement was made after PRD leaders were thrown into jail for allegedly masterminding the July 27, 1996 riot which broke out following the forced takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters in Central Jakarta.
PRD chairman Budiman Sudjatmiko and 13 colleagues, including female activist Dita Indah Sari, were sentenced to between 18 months and 13 years in jail for subversion last year.
However, four of them -- Wilson, Ken Budha Kusumandaru, Coen Husein Pontoh and Mohamad Sholeh -- were among 73 political prisoners recently pardoned by President B.J. Habibie in his fervor to demonstrate he is different from his autocratic predecessor Soeharto. The latter resigned on May 21 of this year.
Wilson, 30, who leads the PRD affiliated Center for Indonesian Labor Strife, told reporters that he was surprised by the court's decision.
"But the revocation should be followed by the release of all political prisoners, including the PRD activists," said Wilson, a graduate from the University of Indonesia School of Letters.
Budiman, who is serving a 13-year jail term in East Jakarta's Cipinang prison along with other PRD activists and the jailed East Timorese rebel leader Jose "Alexandre" Xanana Gusmao, last month demanded that the government release all political prisoners unconditionally.
Wilson said the PRD would hold a media conference at the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute's office in Central Jakarta today.
Meanwhile, lawyer Azet Hutabarat, also from the institute, said the Attorney General's Office revoked the ban on Pakpahan's book Rakyat Menggugat (The People's Suit) on Aug. 7.
Azet said that a panel of judges led by Marina Sidabutar read out the decision to lift the ban in an appeal hearing also held at the Jakarta State Administrative Court.
Azet led the team working for Pakpahan in his appeal against the ban.
The Attorney General's Office banned the book in January, saying it was a danger to national stability.
Pakpahan then filed a lawsuit demanding the decision be overturned. He also argued the book should remain on sale while the case was in progress. (byg)