Inquiry urged into activist's death

SURABAYA (JP): Some 1,000 local workers staged a noisy demonstration at the East Java provincial legislative council yesterday, demanding the continued investigation of the killing of labor activist Marsinah.

Calling themselves the Committee for the Commemoration of Marsinah's Murder, the protesters carried posters and unfurled banners.

"Stop violence against workers," read one banner.

Iwan, a worker at a shoe factory, told The Jakarta Post that the demonstration was held to remind the public that progress in the case was slow in coming.

"It's not fair that her murder should remain unsolved, while many other crimes are closed far more quickly," he said.

Marsinah was found dead after organizing a workers' strike at PT Catur Putra Surya, a watch manufacturer in Sidoarjo, East Java. Her badly mutilated body was found on May 9, 1993, in an abandoned shack near Nganjuk in East Java.

The case is still under police investigation. Judi Susanto, director of the company and alleged mastermind of the murder, was acquitted by the Supreme Court of all charges in November 1994. Another person allegedly involved in the case, Mutiari, secretary to the company, was acquitted later on in the same year.

The remaining seven defendants were acquitted by the Supreme Court in May last year.

The protesters also brought up a host of other issues, including poor working conditions, arbitrary dismissal of workers, and lax enforcement of the laws on manpower.

The demonstrators failed to meet any legislators; they reportedly snuck out the back door while the front gate was blocked by police officers.

Trimoelja D. Soerjadi, lawyer of the acquitted Judi Susanto, asked why it is taking the authorities so long to announce the results of Marsinah's blood tests. It has been a year since the authorities sent the blood sample for a DNA test in the United States.

"Whoever was involved in the murder has to be punished," he demanded. (15/imn)