Former political prisoners told to stay out of politics

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.