Manhunt for subversives continues

Manhunt for subversives continues

JAKARTA (JP): After capturing Budiman Sudjatmiko of the
Democratic People's Party (PRD) for allegedly masterminding the
July 27 riots, the military has vowed to continue its hunt for
subversives.

Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung said yesterday the
authorities were tracking down the culprits who used Budiman as a
puppet to further their political goals.

"The authorities mean to clamp down on them to prevent the
emergence of new Budimans," Feisal was quoted as saying by the
chairman of the Laskar Ampera Arief Rachman Hakim foundation,
Yusril Yusan.

The foundation's members include former student activists from
1966 who played a pivotal role in the birth of the New Order
administration under President Soeharto.

Feisal said Budiman and the other PRD activists now in custody
represented "the front line" threat. He said the second line must
be crushed because it would breed "new troublemakers like
Budiman".

The authorities captured Budiman and nine other activists on
Sunday and early Monday morning. They have been accused of
inciting the July 27 riots.

Separately, spokesman for the Attorney General's office Pontas
Pasaribu said his office had started questioning the PRD leaders
facing subversion charges.

The 1963 subversion law stipulates that any person aiming to
sew hatred against the government or change the state ideology
Pancasila could face the death sentence. It allows detention of a
suspect for up to one year without trial.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (LBH) criticized
investigators from the attorney general's office for not allowing
three defense lawyers to meet their clients, Garda Sembiring and
Benny Sumardi, who are in custody.

Spokesperson for LBH Dewi Novirianti said the investigators
had turned away the defense lawyers from LBH and the Jakarta
Social Institute on the pretext that the suspects needed no
lawyers at their present stage of questioning.

"The Attorney General's office trampled on articles 54, 59 and
61 of the criminal code procedures which guarantee that a
defendant has the right to be accompanied by lawyers at all
stages of investigation," Dewi said.

The law states that anyone facing 15 years or more in jail has
the right to be accompanied by lawyers and be visited by
relatives, Dewi said.

Adding to the defense lawyers' dismay was the prosecutors'
refusal to give them copies of the arrest warrants for the
suspects. The prosecutors promised that they would send the
documents later.

Chairman of the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid
Institute Bambang Widjojanto urged the authorities yesterday to
uphold the presumption of innocence for the detained political
activists.

"The government should stop charging that the PRD activists
are communist because it punishes the defendants although they
have not been convicted by a court of law," Bambang said.

He said the various government officials who have told the
public to beware of non-governmental organizations showed a lack
of political maturity.

"The call denies increasing public demand for greater
democracy in Indonesia," he said.

The police yesterday questioned another two senior legislators
from the Indonesia Democratic Party (PDI), Soetardjo
Soerjogoeritno and Sabam Sirait, as witnesses in Budiman's case.

In another development, Soetardjo and Sabam said they were
questioned on their participation in the free speech forums at
the PDI headquarters and on their relationship with Budiman.

On Monday, the rectors of six government and private
universities in West Java issued a joint-statement that they
would dismiss their students who were PRD members or
sympathizers.

"We do not want our campuses to be infiltrated by a dangerous
ideology brought by students who have been active in anti-
government protests," read the joint statement, as quoted by the
Merdeka daily.

The statement was issued after a meeting of the six rectors in
response to a call by Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman
Djojonegoro. He had asked the rectors of Indonesian universities
to take firm action against any of their students involved with
PRD activities. (imn/16/pan)