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.