Ex-political prisoner to continue study

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.