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)