General's amnesty
General's amnesty
When President B.J. Habibie took office in May, the release of
political prisoners became a cornerstone of his administration.
Indeed, one of his first actions was to authorize the release of
dozens of prisoners of conscience under a presidential amnesty.
This week, Habibie freed 42 more prisoners, bringing the
number of political prisoners released to date to 202 out of 240
incarcerated during the regime of former president Soeharto.
Minister of Justice Muladi has since disclosed plans to release
10 more prisoners jailed for their role in the 1965 aborted coup,
blamed by Soeharto on the now-outlawed Indonesian Communist Party
(PKI). They are to be released on humanitarian grounds because of
their advanced age and deteriorating health.
While all of this may look impressive, it does not answer the
question about the fate of the remaining 38 political prisoners
in jail. Why should they continue to serve time for holding
different views from the old regime, now widely painted as
repressive and tyrannical?
Releasing Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, the jailed East
Timor rebel leader, for example, could speed up the process of an
East Timor solution, now that the government has acknowledged his
major influence in the proindependence movement.
A telling point was provided by Budiman Sudjatmiko, the
chairman of the People's Democratic Party (PRD), who refused an
offer of presidential amnesty this week. He argued that an
acceptance would be an admission of guilt. Budiman, who continues
to lead the PRD from behind bars in the run-up to the June polls,
says he will serve the length of his prison term as a matter of
principle, and as an expression of solidarity with fellow
prisoners of conscience. He insists that a general amnesty be
extended to all political prisoners, without any preconditions.
Indeed, in the absence of any clear criteria about who is
entitled to receive a presidential amnesty, it is hard not to
question the motive behind the government's decision to release
political prisoners in batches. The timing certainly looks
suspicious. The release of 40 Aceh prisoners just days before the
President is due to visit the troubled province suggests that
there are motives other than genuine amnesty behind the decision.
The decision to offer Budiman a presidential amnesty -- which
he rejected -- and to release aging PKI prisoners occurred days
after visiting Germany's Human Rights Commissioner Gerd Poppe
personally asked Habibie. Given that such demands have been made
by many local groups, including our own National Commission on
Human Rights, since his first day in Merdeka Palace, one cannot
help but wonder who are Herr Habibie's real constituencies:
Germans or Indonesians?
Habibie has missed out on a golden opportunity to prove once
and for all that he is different from his predecessor, by failing
to release of all political prisoners during Soeharto's regime.
Although the prisoner's convictions followed the due process of
the law, their trials were not fair since the courts were not
independent but were mere tools of the regime, especially in
political trials. By continuing to detain political prisoners,
Habibie is endorsing the repressive policies of his predecessor.
A general amnesty for all political prisoners, as demanded by
Budiman, would be the most appropriate course of action for
Habibie to break from Soeharto's policies. Yet, as Muladi
explained, all proposals for presidential amnesty are first
discussed with the Armed Forces, which takes into consideration
national security issues. Rather than a general amnesty, we seem
to have ended up with a general's amnesty.
What security threat can prisoners in their 70s and mostly in
poor health, pose to the nation? A 78-year-old former president,
who retains political and financial clout, and whom many suspect
is behind violent unrest in various parts of the country, is a
bigger threat. Given the atrocities he had committed during his
32 year leadership, he is the real enemy of the state. He is
certainly the enemy of the people. He, not Xanana, Budiman or
other political adversaries, should be in jail.