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)