Former political prisoners still haunted by past

Former political prisoners still haunted by past

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

Forty years after the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was
accused of masterminding the bloody attempted coup on Sept. 30,
1965, political prisoners associated with the movement still bear
scars of incarceration and persecution.

In Medan, former political prisoner Edi Sartimin has lived a
lonely life for 27 years after his wife and only child left him
because they could not stand living in the shadow of his past.

But the 69-year-old man has kept busy, throwing himself into
work with non-governmental organizations as a photographer.

Modestly, Edi said he was not skilled at photography but had
taken up the job for something to do.

"I was formerly a soldier with no skills as a photographer but
because I am now on my own, I learned to become (one)," said Edi,
who lives at the North Sumatra Community Legal Aid office in
Medan.

The former chief corporal said he joined the Indonesian
Military in 1957 in Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra. He was
arrested in September 1967 and accused of being a rebel who
planned to escape and join fighters in North Kalimantan, a
movement allegedly affiliated with the PKI. For the next 11
years, he was rotated around different prisons in Medan.

When he was finally released in 1978, he had to swallow
another bitter pill, his wife, Misnem, and his only daughter,
Susiana, had left the house, and him.

"They were ashamed having a husband and father like me, who
was sent to prison because I was accused of being involved with
the PKI. That's why they left me," Edi said.

Another ex-prisoner, M. Farid Hisyam, was also left by his
wife and two children after spending only two years inside of a
12-year sentence.

The 69-year-old was jailed for being the head of North
Sumatra's Indonesian Students Association affiliated to the PKI.
"I feel fine that my wife and children left me. Let people know
me as I am," Hisyam said defiantly.

The PKI was accused of being responsible for the coup, which
resulted in the killings of six military generals. Former
president Soeharto rose to power after the coup attempt. After
banning the PKI, his government sent thousands of PKI members and
their relatives to prison without trial. Those later released
from prison were denied government jobs. Hundreds of thousands
more people suspected of being linked to the PKI were slaughtered
by their neighbors.

In the years following Soeharto's fall, conditions have become
less hostile to suspected PKI members and their families. Early
last year, the Constitutional Court restored the political rights
of those linked with the communist party by allowing them to vote
and contest in the legislative elections.

However, jobs for released PKI members are hard to find and
family members still face persecution. Dalan Lingga, who led the
PKI subsection committee in Dairi regency, can only work as a
farmer in his village in Tiga Linggga.

The 70-year-old was joined by his son, a university graduate
from North Sumatra University, whose nomination as a village head
three years ago was turned down by the regental administration
because his family was associated with the PKI.

Another ex-prisoner, Aston Tumanggor, 75, said his son was
recently rejected when he applied as a civil servant once it was
known that he came from a family associated with the PKI.

"None of my children can work in government offices. This is
not fair. What makes us so different with the Free Aceh Movement
rebels who are granted freedom and given money, while we can't
even work in a government office," the father of eight said.