Ex-political prisoners demand civil rights

Ex-political prisoners demand civil rights

JAKARTA (JP): Former political prisoners jailed during the New
Order regime's 32-year rule established an association on
Wednesday in a move to bring attention to the rights abuses they
suffered.

Simon Tiranda, who chairs the association, said in a press
conference here on Thursday that the association was established
as a forum for victims of the repressive New Order regime, many
of whom were jailed without trial.

"The New Order regime committed unlawful practices, detained
its political enemies without trial and confiscated their
belongings arbitrarily," Simon recalled in the meeting, which was
attended by around 200 former political prisoners.

He said that the association would cooperate with research
institutions and historians to review the events surrounding the
abortive coup of Sept. 30, 1965, and the subsequent slaughter of
communist activists and their relatives.

The meeting was also a reunion of figures who were suspected
of having close links to the still banned Indonesian Communist
Party (PKI). They were, among others, novelists Pramoedya Ananta
Toer and Sitor Situmorang, former Air Force chief Omar Dhani and
Sanusi, who was jailed for his alleged involvement in the bombing
of a Bank Central Asia building in Jakarta in 1984.

Pramoedya, who served a 17-year prison sentence on Buru
Island, Maluku, said former president Soeharto's repressive
administration abused human rights and killed democracy to defend
his power.

"He (Soeharto) adopted the so-called sacrifice culture to
topple his political rivals and everyone who opposed his
policies," he said.

Sitor did not deliver a speech but read five poems about his
experiences as a political prisoner.

Sri Mulyono Herlambang, a former Air Force chief, denied
allegations that the Indonesian Air Force supported the communist
party and the coup attempt.

"Retired Air Force officers are publishing a book about what
happened in and around the Halim Perdanakusumah Air Base when the
coup was launched," Herlambang said.

The association's executive planned to visit the National
Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to deliver a petition to
investigate human rights abuses during the New Order era. (05)