Military plans further crackdown on PRD activists

YOGYAKARTA (JP): While the military has vowed to continue its crackdown on "communist-like movement" activists, human rights campaigners charged that force had been used by the authorities in their interrogation of five students arrested here last week.

Budi Santoso of the Yogyakarta Legal Aid Office said here yesterday that Muhammad Ali, Wisnu Agung, Harry Kurniawan, Eko Prastowo and Yohannes Librayanto had been released on Saturday, 24 hours after they were arrested, with marks of ill-treatment. The students had reportedly sought medical treatment after their release.

Budi and his colleagues picked up the students at the Yogyakarta police headquarters; the students were earlier detained at the Yogyakarta military command.

Budi described the students' condition as "appalling". "Their eyes were black and blue and they had bruises on their faces. Some had blood spots on their shirts," he said.

Budi quoted one of the students as saying that security personnel forced them into admitting they were members of the Democratic People's Party (PRD), a student organization the military claimed was behind the recent riots in Jakarta.

Budi also alleged that violence had been used against the students once they were inside a car that transported them from their campus to the military command.

The students could not be reached for comments since their relatives picked them up from police headquarters. Another student organization -- the People's Front for the Salvation of Democracy -- has stated that the five were its members, not the PRD's.

The PRD is an umbrella group of student, worker and farmer organizations that was set up in 1995 to channel pro-democracy demands. It has been accused of masterminding the violent rioting that erupted in Jakarta on Saturday, July 27, as well as smaller waves of protests following the forced takeover of the disputed headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party.

PRD chairman Budiman Sujatmiko is currently in hiding.

Armed Forces Chief of Sociopolitical Affairs Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid had vowed that the military would continue to crack down on PRD activists.

"The government will continue pursuing them, because they have to be held accountable for what they did in the `July 27 Incident'," Syarwan said after meeting with foreign envoys here on Monday. "They were behind the rioting, which has forced the authorities to arrest hundreds of people."

Syarwan was commenting on reports that Budiman might have fled abroad.

"Those who had been arrested were only pawns, while the 'brains' behind the rioting have fled from their responsibility," he said. "I pity those who had been arrested only because they were instigated."

There have been varying reports on the number of people detained, with Syarwan saying 170 people had been arrested as of Monday.

In Surabaya, Chief of the Brawijaya Military Command Maj. Gen. Imam Utomo was quoted by Antara as saying that members of PRD and its wing -- Indonesian Students' Solidarity for Democracy -- might have spread to various regions in East Java.

"I believe there are (PRD members here)," he said. "The demonstrations of workers in Jombang recently must have been instigated by PRD."

Imam also said the military is currently pursuing 30 to 40 PRD members for questioning.

In Banda Aceh, police chief Abdul Hamid Busra also called on local police to prevent PRD activists from entering Aceh province.

In Bandung, West Java, students and activists of the Bandung Legal Aid Office began a peaceful demonstration of concern over the current situation by fasting.

Meanwhile, National Commission on Human Rights member Soetandyo Wignyosoebroto said in Surakarta, Central Java that the commission will go all out in obtaining facts on the rioting and helping to clarify the actual number of casualties in the incident. (30/17/swe/har)