Government releases PKI prisoners

Government releases PKI prisoners

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Justice Muladi announced on
Wednesday the release of 10 aging former members of the outlawed
Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), jailed for their involvement in
the communist-backed abortive coup attempt in 1965.

According to Muladi, the release was "intended to speed up the
process of national reconciliation, which requires legal efforts,
by giving amnesty to prisoners who are serving sentences".

The minister said the release was effected by President B.J.
Habibie in decree No. 15 dated March 17, on the condition they
swear an oath to Pancasila as the state ideology, to the 1945
Constitution and decrees of the People's Consultative Assembly
(MPR).

With their release, Habibie has freed 212 of 240 political
prisoners since he replaced Soeharto in May last year.

Eight leaders of the newly rehabilitated People's Democratic
Party (PRD) remain in jail, including its chairman Budiman
Sudjatmiko and secretary-general Petrus Haryanto.

Muladi said on Tuesday it was almost impossible to release the
younger prisoners, as they demanded a general amnesty without any
preconditions.

"They can continue sleeping in the prison," Muladi said on
Wednesday.

The PKI prisoners would be released "because they have shown
good conduct, and due to humanitarian considerations including
their advanced age and deteriorating health conditions," Muladi
said, after meeting with the President at Merdeka Palace.

Four of the elderly inmates were sentenced to death for
subversive activities and an attempt to topple the government.
The President's decree identifies them as Asep Suryaman, 73,
former Chief Sgt. Boengkoes, 72, former Sgt. Maj. Natanael
Marsudi, 71, and Isnanto, 76.

The other six prisoners are former Col. Abdul Latief, 73, Sri
Suhardjo, 70, Suryabrata, 71, Buyung Ketek, 52, Markus Giroth,
61, and Sido, 52.

Abdul Latief is the most senior among the 10 inmates. He told
The Jakarta Post in October that on the night of Sept. 30, 1965,
Soeharto, then chief of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command
(Kostrad), was fully aware of the coup plan and the killings of
six senior generals.

Latief, currently in Cipinang prison, East Jakarta, claimed
Soeharto had victimized him to cover-up his role in the coup
plot. He said his family was close to the Soeharto family until
the tragedy erupted.

Details of the coup remain a mystery. Following the fall of
Soeharto last year, questions concerning Soeharto's role in the
coup have been raised. (prb)