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)