Detainee allowed to take exams

Detainee allowed to take exams

JAKARTA (JP): A detainee at the Salemba detention center will
be permitted to take part in the national state university
entrance tests to be held next week, it was announced yesterday.

Danang Kukuh Wardoyo, 19, one of three detainees arrested on
March 16 on charges of selling copies of an unlicensed magazine,
gained permission to sit for the exam from the Central Jakarta
District Court.

The decision signed by Judge Soehardjo includes an instruction
to the general prosecutor to provide the necessary security
personnel to guard the detainee during the exam registrations on
June 15 and during the exams on June 20-21.

His lawyer, Rita S. Kolibonso of the Jakarta Legal Aid office,
praised the court's decision.

"This is as it should be, there is no reason for the court to
deny the request for the detainee to seek learning opportunities
while in detention," Rita said.

Danang's relatives have tried for weeks to obtain the permit
on his behalf.

Danang and the other detainees, Ahmad Taufik and Eko Maryadi
who are members of an unlicensed journalists' organization, will
be tried on Friday.

Danang, who was an office helper at the Alliance of
Independent Journalists, graduated last year from the state high
school of SMA 2 in Pare, Kediri regency in East Java.

Some 400,000 graduates are expected to register for the
entrance exams.

"He wants to apply to the Faculty of Engineering at the
University of Indonesia," said his aunt. (anr)