Labor leader Pakpahan taken to hospital

Labor leader Pakpahan taken to hospital

JAKARTA (JP): Detained labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan was taken
to hospital Friday night, four days after he exploded in court
accusing a judge of ignoring his poor health.

The decision to send him to the private Cikini Hospital was
made at the recommendation of the prison doctor, his lawyer,
Irianto Subiakto, told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

As of yesterday, he was still very weak, Irianto said.

Pakpahan, chairman of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union
(SBSI), was detained at Cipinang Correctional Institution pending
the outcome of his trial on subversion charges.

Irianto said Pakpahan was being treated for nerve problems,
but an SBSI staff member, Rekson Silaban, said he had suffered
vertigo, sinusitis and heart ailments.

Pakpahan's trial at the South Jakarta District Court was cut
short Monday because of his deteriorating health, but not before
judge Djazuli P. Sudibyo accused him of indulging in a publicity
stunt.

This led to an unusual outburst by Pakpahan, who insisted that
he needed medical attention.

He had earlier been "ping-ponged" by the various government
agencies who required that he produce various letters before his
request for treatment could be granted. One of the letters needed
to come from the judge, who refused to supply one, saying he had
given an oral order that the suspect be looked at by prison
doctors.

Silaban said that at 1.00 a.m. Friday, Pakpahan's condition
turned for the worse and he was brought to the jail's clinic.

"In the morning, he asked to be taken to a hospital. After
various procedures, they brought him to the hospital at 8.00
p.m.," Silaban said.

His wife, Rosintan, was at his hospital bedside yesterday.

He was vomiting in the morning and complained of a severe
headache. "He looked so pale," she told the Post by phone.

Pakpahan's room was continuously guarded by security officers
-- three during the day, and four in the evening, Rosintan said.

While she is allowed to accompany Pakpahan in the room, other
visitors, including relatives and SBSI staff, could only see him
through a glass window, she said.

Pakpahan underwent a C.A.T scan yesterday; the result was not
yet known, she added.

Doctors at the Cikini hospital could not be reached for
comment.

Pakpahan is currently being tried on charges of undermining
the legitimate government through various speeches and statements
he made between 1995 and 1996. The subversion law carries the
maximum penalty of death.

He has also yet to complete a four-year jail term meted to him
in 1994 for inciting workers' riots in Medan, North Sumatra. The
Supreme Court has upheld the jail term, but Pakpahan has filed
for a review of his case in the Supreme Court. (05)