'It's high time for us to forget the past'

Former members and the relatives of former members of the now banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) hailed the Constitutional Court's decision reinstating some of their political rights. Some city residents The Jakarta Post spoke to expressed hope that the government would further reduce the discriminatory treatment they have suffered for over three decades.

Roby Sumolang, 65, an activist with a non-governmental organization for the empowerment of former PKI members. He lives in Ciracas, East Jakarta, with his wife and two children:

It is high time for the government to revoke the various regulations that have prevented former members of the PKI and their relatives from leading normal lives.

They have been discriminated against over the last forty years in the wake of the aborted coup which was blamed on the party. I knew a lot of them whose assets were seized by the military authorities.

Now that one unjust regulation is revoked, we can move forward and come to terms with the past.

Gita Mahyarani, 23, is a journalist for a website company in Kuningan, South Jakarta. She lives in Pasar Minggu, also in South Jakarta:

I strongly support the decision to allow former PKI members to vote. Besides, why should we make a problem out of something that happened a long time ago.

I think most of them were wrongly accused by the previous rulers. Even if they were members of the outlawed party, most of them were not directly involved.

Besides, almost all of them are already old and they're the last people persecuted for political reasons.

--The Jakarta Post