Former members of PKI fight for their rights in court

Former members of PKI fight for their rights in court

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Patience, they say, is a virtue. And that's probably more true
for former members (and their families) of the outlawed
Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), than anyone else.

After almost four decades of living as social and political
pariahs, a session on Wednesday at the Central Jakarta District
Court -- even though it too was delayed -- marked the beginning
of their fight to get their rights back as legitimate citizens of
the country of their birth.

"Since only one of the accused's legal representatives was
present, this session will be delayed," presiding judge Cicut
Sutiarso of the Central Jakarta District Court announced.

"We have been waiting for our rights for 40 years now, another
week or two will not hurt," said John Pakasi, one of the
representatives of the former PKI members, after listening to the
judges' decision to delay the court's hearing of a class action
suit they had brought against President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
and four previous Indonesian presidents; Soeharto, Habibie,
Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati Soekarnoputri.

John, a resident of Manado, was dismissed as a civil servant
and imprisoned in his North Sulawesi hometown for 12 years for
allegedly having links to the PKI, a party which had been accused
by the Soeharto government of masterminding the abortive 1965
coup, which led to a massive purge and millions of killings.
Historians, however, still debate the role of PKI in the event.

Soeharto, who rose to power following the failed coup, ordered
that all people linked to the PKI must be imprisoned without
trial, he then effectively banished their rights as citizens.

Almost 100 elderly people including world-famous author
Pramoedya Ananta Toer waited for almost two hours for Wednesday's
session to begin.

"They demand that their economic, social and cultural rights
be restored and that the government revoke any discriminative
laws against them," legal representative of the group Uli
Parulian said.

Previously, a handful of discriminative laws were revoked,
which allowed PKI members to vote during the previous legislative
election. Former president Abdurrahman Wahid had also officially
apologized for the years of discrimination against former members
and sympathizers of the PKI and their families.

However, Uli said, 24 discriminative regulations still remain
in force. Among them is Ministerial Decree No. 24/1981, which
bars alleged Communist Party members from taking government jobs
or becoming teachers or members of the military or police.

"We were forced to quit our jobs as civil servants and later
on, after we were freed from prison, we could hardly make a
living," Pakasi said. "Not to mention that our children, and
grandchildren have also been discriminated against and barred
from receiving a proper education."

The discrimination also targeted close friends and relatives
of PKI suspects, some of whom were infants when they lost one or
both parents in the bloodbath of 1965 to 1967.

Uli said the class action suit also included a demand to
restore the plaintiffs' dignity by apologizing via the national
media and paying material losses in amounts to be specified
later, plus Rp 10 billion (US$1.07 million) in non-material
losses.

"We want to emphasize, however, the restoration of their basic
rights by revoking discriminative laws, rather than money," he
added.

The judges, however, said they would only review the validity
of the suit when all five of the accused (the president and four
former presidents) were present in court, so that the trial could
proceed.

In the first court session on Wednesday, only the legal
representatives of former president Abdurrahman Wahid was
present. (003)