Freed Sanusi holds no grudges, remains critical

Freed Sanusi holds no grudges, remains critical

JAKARTA (JP): H.M. Sanusi, who was released on parole on
Friday, holds no grudges against the government for sending him
to jail in 1985 for a series of bombings he insists to this day
that were not his doing.

Sanusi, who believes that he was imprisoned chiefly because of
his membership in the Petisi 50, remains critical of the
government saying he will continue to fight for democracy.

"Let bygones be bygones," Sanusi told The Jakarta Post when
asked whether he intended to pursue vindication through legal
channels. "The most important thing is that I am a free person
now."

"I will not criticize the verdict although I never accepted it
and consider it a mistake," said Sanusi, who's wife passed away
on April 21.

Sanusi, a former light industries minister, was given a 19
year sentence in May 1985 after the West Jakarta District Court
found him guilty of arranging a series of bombings in the Glodok
business district in Jakarta a year earlier.

The following year, he was tried and found guilty by the
Central Jakarta District Court of subversion, including plotting
to overthrow the government. He was given 20 years to run
concurrently with the first sentence.

The second sentence was annulled by the Supreme Court in March
of last year on "technical grounds".

Amidst further signs of reconciliation between President
Soeharto and his chief critics in the Petisi 50, Sanusi last year
was allowed to join the assimilation program, during which he
worked at an optical shop in the day's and returned to prison at
night.

Now virtually a free man -- he still has to report
periodically to the police -- Sanusi says that politics,
especially the fight for democracy, remain his main concern.

A father of five and grandfather of six, Sanusi says he will
let his children run the family's catering business.

"I have an obsession with fostering democracy in Indonesia,"
Sanusi said, stressing that this will remain his preoccupation
for the rest of his life.

"I am very disappointed with the growing corruption,
conglomeration and poverty," he said, adding that this has been
allowed to happen because of the absence of democracy.

He says he still abhors the political parties and will conduct
his struggle through the Petisi 50 and possibly along with the
Forum for Democracy. (02)