Detained students holding up well

Detained students holding up well

By Sirikit Syah

SURABAYA (JP): Dita Indah Sari, one of the three student
activists detained on charges of inciting massive street labor
protests earlier this month, looks healthy.

"We're doing fine," she told The Jakarta Post who visited her
in her cell at the Surabaya police detention center on Monday.
"We eat three times a day. We take showers normally. The water
supply is good here."

She was accompanied by her friend, Coen Husein Pontoh, while
the third, M. Sholeh, was still being interrogated. "He has been
questioned since 11 a.m. this morning, and yet the police have
not done with him yet," Dita said. It was 4 p.m.

Dita said she was on good terms with some of the policemen who
are guarding them, and with the other detainees. She said they
are frequently called for interrogation, but that they are never
physically abused.

"The questioning is wearing us down. They ask the same
questions over and over again. I know I must be strong," she
said.

She is defiant, though. "I'm prepared to face whatever lies in
store for me," she said.

"What we did was right. We have nothing to regret. We won't
deny that we were involved in the strike and protest, but our
involvement had a good reason," said the chief of the Center for
the Indonesian Workers' Struggle, a wing of the newly established
People's Democratic Party.

Dita, Pontoh and Sholeh were arrested on charges of inciting
massive labor protests, involving some 10,000 workers from 10
local factories at Tandes industrial estate in a southern suburb,
on July 8 and 9. The workers demanded their daily wages be raised
to Rp 7,000 (US$3). The minimum daily wage for Surabaya, set by
the government last April, is Rp 5,200 (US$ 2,26).

"We have to detain them because we have strong evidence they
masterminded the labor demonstrations," the spokesman for the
East Java police command, Lt. Col. M. Sofwat Hadi, said earlier.

At the time of the arrest, Dita and Coen were visibly
battered, with bruises to their heads. All the students at the
police station then also had injuries. Heavily guarded, they were
barred from talking to journalists.

Chief of the Brawijaya local military command Maj. Gen. Imam
Utomo earlier threatened to bring the student activists to court
on charges of subversion, which carries a maximum penalty of
death.

The authorities, however, later slapped them with charges of
disturbing public order which carries penalties ranging between
six to seven years. Some top-notch lawyers, including Trimoelja
D. Soerjadi, are now representing them.

Break

Dita was born in Medan and grew up in Jakarta. She had been
attending University of Indonesia's Law School in Depok, West
Java, for seven semesters before she decided to take a break.
"I've been on a leave for three semesters," she said, adding she
has no regrets.

Will she go back to campus some day? "I don't know. Maybe. It
depends," she said.

Pontoh, an alumnus of the Sam Ratulangi University in Manado,
North Sumatra, feels the same way. An farming engineer, he said
he did not really care about a career.

His involvement in the strike was related to his activities in
the National Farmers Association, also a wing of the People's
Democratic Party. "Everybody knows that laborers here...are never
given the chance to enjoy the fruits of national development."

"What we did was right," he said, echoing Dita. He was visibly
upset when asked about some military officials' comment likening
his organization to the banned Indonesian Communist Party.

"They know that's not true. They only say it in order to grind
us down. There's no way our movement can be equated with
communism," he said.

Support

Pontoh was not sure whether his parents knew what was
happening to him. "I think they know. They read and watch the
news, too," he said. "We don't communicate very often. They live
in Manado."

Dian, an older brother of Dita's, told the Post that their
parents were not supportive. "We're just trying to understand
her," he said. "I'm sad for her, but proud, too."

Dita said she needed her family's support at a time like this.
"We believe we didn't do anything wrong. We don't have any
regrets. This is what makes us strong. But we also need our
family's and friends' support," she said.

The three students are frequently visited by other students
and activists, many of whom they do not even know.

Meanwhile, the student body of Wijaya Kusuma University has
requested the police's permit for Sholeh to take his exams, which
began Monday. So far, no permission has been granted.

Similar requests had been made by the team of lawyers for the
students. Police have decided to detain her for another 60 days,
according to a source at the Surabaya Legal Aid Institute. The
police could not be reached for confirmation.

Trimoelja, known for handling controversial cases such as the
one of murdered labor activist Marsinah, said he agreed to defend
the students simply because "everybody has the right to legal
counsel".

"It's the students' friends, not their families, who asked me
to represent them. I visited the three, and they said yes, they
wanted me. I couldn't say no," he said.

The team of 19 lawyers defending the students include human
rights campaigner Adnan Buyung Nasution and Bambang Widjojanto
from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute.