British woman narrates account of prison torture

British woman narrates account of prison torture

Bertahan Hidup di Gulag Indonesia (Surviving Indonesia's Gulag);
Author: Carmel Budiardjo; Translator: Lina; Publisher: Masyarakat
Indonesia untuk Kemanusiaan (Indonesian Society For Humanity),
Jakarta, March 1999; 298 pages; Rp 20,000.

JAKARTA (JP): The prisoners accused of involvement in the
Indonesian Communist Party's coup attempt -- known as the Sept.
30, 1965 incident -- have all been set free. But only a few of
them have been willing to write of their prison experience. Among
the few who did was Pramoedya Ananta Toer, who wrote Nyanyi Sunyi
Seorang Bisu (The Silent Singing of A Mute), Volume I in 1995 and
Volume II in 1997. Now, Carmel Budiardjo's book Bertahan Hidup di
Gulag Indonesia (Surviving Indonesia's Gulag), which has appeared
recently, relates her experiences during imprisonment under the
New Order regime.

Many of us have heard of Carmel Budiardjo. But only a few know
who actually is the woman. We only know that she is an activist
of Amnesty International and Tapol (Tahanan Politik [Political
Prisoners]) in London. She was known as a critic of the New Order
regime (Soeharto) and considered "an enemy of the New Order".

Apart from that, not many people -- especially those born in
the 1960s and the 1970s -- know that Carmel was imprisoned
without a trial for three years, from 1968 to 1971. Her bitter
experiences behind bars are related in Bertahan Hidup di Gulag
Indonesia. The original edition of the book entitled Surviving
Indonesia's Gulag was published by Cassel (London, 1996) while
the Malaysian edition was produced by the Wira Karya publishing
house (Kuala Lumpur, 1997).

How did Carmel land in the labyrinth of the New Order regime?

It started with her marriage to Suwondo Budiardjo in Prague in
1950. Carmel, born in London on June 18, 1925, was a British
citizen and an activist of the International Union of Students.
Suwondo Budiardjo was an Indonesian student at the Charles
University in Prague in the late 1940s.

In 1952 Carmel joined Suwondo and settled in Indonesia. She
worked as a translator with the Antara news agency. "After two
years I got bored with translations and looked for a job with the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I worked on economic research. In my
free time I translated for the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI)
and sometimes wrote articles on economic subjects. I was never an
official member of PKI, but I often met with the party's leaders
and gave them my evaluation of economic policies (p.21)."

Carmel studied at the University of Indonesia's School of
Economics and graduated in 1956. She taught at the schools of
economics of Padjadjaran University in Bandung and Res Publica
University in Jakarta, where she was a dean for six months.

In April 1965 she was head of the economic secretariat under
then foreign minister cum deputy prime minister Subandrio. Her
husband Suwondo Budiardjo was a senior official in the Navy
ministry until October 1965 (p.5).

It was not surprising that Carmel led an active social life.
"The inevitable lifestyle made me join political activities until
I landed in prison. Nevertheless, even during the first seconds
of shock I did not regret anything (p.21)."

If Pramoedya Ananta Toer in his book Nyanyi Sepi Seorang Bisu
relates many stories about male prisoners, Carmel Budiardjo tells
a lot about the women. There were teenagers among women
prisoners. Some prisoners got pregnant by officers (prison
guards). Others gave birth while in prison. Food was limited.
Prisoners were beaten. Others were stripped naked. Some were
knifed in the buttocks and had to be hospitalized (p.109).

Because Carmel was moved from one prison to another,
she knew what was happening in all those prisons. In the prisons
with male prisoners, some were hung, others were beaten until
they lost consciousness and eventually died.

Carmel Budiardjo was lucky to be a British citizen. Her
Britishness helped her in many instances. Many guards were
"awestruck". She writes, "As far as I knew, my being British
caused complications for them who arrested me. That was the
reason why they could not decide what to do with me (p.91)."

Moreover, if women prisoners were often physically mistreated,
Carmel did not experience this at all. "Nothing happened to me
after I had given replies to their questions (p.80)." At the most
Budiardjo was only ordered to give English tuition to the guards.
"If she were an Indonesian citizen, it was highly probable that
she would only be liberated by the end of the 1980s like other
women political prisoners," said the publisher in its
introductory note (p.V).

She was aware of this. "Most fellow political prisoners
thought that I would be freed because I was British, although I
had Indonesian citizenship (p.103)." Then, "Finally, the fact
that I was British helped me (p.150)."

This was, indeed, proven. Thanks to the efforts of many sides
(lawyers, the British government, friends and sympathizers), her
British citizenship, abandoned in 1954, was reestablished in
1971. Carmel Budiardjo was freed. She took a plane to London on
Nov. 9, 1971. She immediately joined Amnesty International and
later established the organization Tapol in August 1973.

However, her detention separated her from her children Tari
and Anto. The children -- through the help of the World Council
of Churches -- were taken to London. Carmel was also separated
from her husband, who was also detained. He was released in 1978.
It was even sadder was that Carmel and Suwondo Budiardjo divorced
although they both lived in London.

We may get the shivers reading this book. There are so many
acts of torture, rough treatment and human degradation. Prisoners
in the grip of guards stand nearly no chance to save themselves.
Their life depends entirely on their guards. Prisoner could die
in prison without anyone being held responsible. They could go
crazy or be disabled for life without being able to sue.

According to Carmel Budiardjo, the New Order leader, Soeharto,
must take responsibility for all that. It is not surprising that
she ends her book with the sentence, "My only hope is to live
long enough to celebrate his fall and his death, and to see the
creation of a democratic Indonesia (page 204)."

One of her hopes has been realized, i.e. Soeharto's fall. That
is why this book can be published in its Indonesian edition. If
Soeharto were still in power, this book could not see the light
in Indonesia.

This book -- along with others of its kind -- is authentic
proof of imprisonment without legal trial of thousands or even
tens or hundreds of thousands of Indonesian citizens. It is, at
the same time, authentic proof of an indelible dark part of the
Indonesian nation's history.

The reviewer is an editor of a publishing house in Jakarta.