Ex-political prisoner to continue study

By Gedsiri Suhartono

JAKARTA (JP): One of the most annoying experiences Danang Kukuh Wardoyo had during his 20-month term as one of Indonesia's youngest political prisoners was having to do English homework.

"It really got annoying at times. Can you imagine, being in jail and still having to do homework?" Danang said jovially, having revealed that in the long days at Salemba detention center, Central Jakarta, he filled his time with English lessons given by a young female student volunteer called Arini.

Danang, 20 and formerly an office worker at the unlicensed, critical Independen magazine published by the unrecognized Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), regained his freedom on Nov. 12.

His friends and supporters were immediately struck by the way the young man looked bewildered by his new world, no longer confined to a dim two-by-three prison cell.

So flustered was he that immediately after his release from the Tangerang penitentiary he did not dare walk his elder sister across the street to catch a bus.

"I'm sorry, Sis. I don't think I can do it at the moment. I'm still too nervous," Danang told his sister. He then asked his other sister to give him a reality pinch.

Several times he asked his friends if he was really free. "I could hardly sleep the last week before Nov. 12," Danang said.

"At first I counted down the remaining months but as the day came closer, I realized that it was other people who were doing the counting," he said.

Danang was one of three people arrested on March 16, 1995 on charges of selling copies of Independen which contained articles critical of the government. The other two were AJI members and journalists Ahmad Taufik and Eko Maryadi, each currently serving three-year jail terms at Cirebon penitentiary in West Java.

AJI was founded in 1994 after the June banning of three Indonesian news weeklies, Tempo, DeTik and Editor, by journalists who believed the existing government-sanctioned Indonesian Journalists Association did little to help the press.

The government banned Independen in March but so far has not outlawed AJI. Government pressure, however, has forced some AJI members working for local media to resign their jobs or to take non-editorial positions.

Danang served his sentence in four different places: he spent eight months in a cell at Jakarta Police Headquarters, 12 days in the children's penitentiary in Pondok Bambu, East Jakarta, 1 year in the Salemba detention center and the remaining time in Tangerang.

If he had to choose he would prefer to have spent his imprisonment in Salemba, which is the largest facility of the four, he said.

"I could relax there, and I could concentrate on studying English," he said.

A friend said Danang was the best student in the class. "He has a strong drive to learn," the friend said.

Entrance exam

Danang graduated in 1994 from the SMA 2 senior high school in Pare, Kediri regency in East Java. In jail, he obtained permission to take the national university entrance exam, applying to the Engineering School, University of Indonesia.

He did not pass the exam but says he intends to open again his old high school books waiting at his parents' house.

"If my brain has not turned rusty I would like to continue my education," said Danang who wants to study natural sciences.

AJI leaders have said they are looking for a scholarship for Danang whose detention has prevented him from going to university.

Danang, who refused to fix and wear his glasses in prison for fear of being ridiculed as a "nerd", said jail is no solution to juvenile misconduct.

"Prison erodes good intentions," he said regretfully. Indecent language and behavior are considered the norm and one would eventually become accustomed to it, he said.

"Good people would turn evil if they stayed long enough in prison," Danang said.

Danang recorded his daily life in jail on scraps of paper. This snapshot of prison life will be published soon.

"I felt a tinge of sadness as I walked away from what had become my routine, confinement and order, to be once again on my own and to make decisions," Danang admitted.

"The past 20 months taught me many lessons..patience and how to exercise self restraint," he said solemnly.

Danang expressed happiness at the thought of reuniting with his family in East Java. "My parents knew I had not done anything shameful," he said.

Sadly, a week after his return, his father died.