Former political prisoners told to stay out of politics

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It is years ago now, but Sugeng PS, a former political prisoner remains in the dark as to why the New Order regime sent him into internal exile on Buru Island in Maluku.

Sugeng asserted that he did not deserve the eight-year jail sentence he received for his alleged involvement in the aborted coup blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in 1965, a charge which he has always denied.

According to Sugeng, he was sent to Buru Island on the grounds that he was the son of a teacher who was a member of the Association of Indonesian Teachers (PGRI) Vak Central, which was affiliated to the PKI.

His father was executed by the regime, and the 16-year-old Sugeng was transported to Buru Island along with thousands of other communist-linked persons in 1969. He was then a second grade student of a junior high school (SMP) in the Central Java regency of Tegal.

"Torture was common practice during questioning by military officers," Sugeng recalled on Saturday. He said living in jail was a horrible experience.

The grievances did not end, however, after he was released by the iron-fisted regime in 1977, as he was now subjected to what was referred to as a "social ban".

His new status as an ex-political, and the fact that he had never finished school, made it difficult for him to get a job, and later on a life partner.

The government of the past barred former political prisoners and even their family members and relatives from the bureaucracy and military.

There was a continuous campaign launched by the New Order goverment against communists, which resulted in stigma and the belief that ex-politicals were dangerous persons.

"Most of the parents of girls I met were reluctant to let their daughters marry a former political prisoner due to the stigma," Sugeng said.

Fortunately, in 1978, Sugeng got a job with publishing company PT Hasta Mitra, which was sympathetic to the plight of former political prisoners. The company has published many of the world- recognized works of author Pramudya Ananta Toer, who also spent some time on Buru Island as a political prisoner.

He finally got married in early 1980, and he now has two sons.

Sugeng has just been laid off by his employer due to the economic crisis.

Many political prisoners have suffered social alienation for simply having different views from the government.

However, government repression and stigmatization did not discourage political prisoners from involvement in social life, particularly after the fall of New Order regime in 1998. Instead their common sufferings have become the ties that bind them.

In the wake of the reform movement, the political prisoners formed many associations, foundations and groupings with different purposes.

Some are actively campaigning against the return of the New Order, while others are fighting for the civil rights and welfare of the ex-politicals.

The Anti-New Order Regime Organization and the Association of New Order Victims (Pakorba) are two of these organizations.

In more informal ways, the political prisoners have built up perhaps thousands of other informal networks.

The political prisoners have been meeting each other informally in small groups since 1998. However, a formal national meeting was held here only last week.

The event not only reunited them, but gave them a chance to articulate their interests, including their demands for the government to review the official history and to restore their civil rights.

The meeting's resolutions, which were announced late on Saturday, indeed articulated their demands.

Iman Hidayat al Iqbal, a steering commitee member, said on Sunday that the meeting had also agreed to delay the establishment of a committee to serve as an umbrella for all the anti-New Order organizations that had mushroomed since 1998.

There was a split among the former political prisoners over whether they should formalize their organization into a political grouping. Those supporting the idea said a political grouping was needed to enable their voices to reach the decision makers. They believe that many of them possess political skills.

The opposing camp argued that any formalization would be manipulated by certain parties for political purposes ahead of the 2004 election.

The husband of President Megawati Soekarnoputri, Taufik Kiemas, who is an influential figure in the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), opened the meeting.

Then a student, Taufik was sent to jail for several months by the New Order regime as he supported the Old Order under Sukarno.

Jopie Lasut, the organizer of the meeting, said that different views were inevitable as the former political prisoners came from different backgrounds.

They were imprisoned as the result of various cases ranging from the PKI coup attempt to the hijacking of a Garuda aircraft in Bangkok in 1981.

"Of course, they have their own agenda themselves, and this is normal," he said on the sidelines of the meeting.

However, Iman Hidayat asserted that instead of wasting energy on the debate, the ex-politicals should focus on the struggle to win back their civil rights.