'No pardon for former communists'

'No pardon for former communists'

JAKARTA (JP): The Armed Forces (ABRI) yesterday ruled out
granting a pardon to political prisoners convicted in connection
with the abortive coup attempt by the Indonesian Communist Party
(PKI) 30 years ago, saying that they remain a threat to security.

"We have to remain alert to the latent threat of the PKI,"
Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung told reporters. "We still
foresee the dangers if they are released."

"We must be vigilant against neo-communism in Indonesia," he
added.

Feisal made the remarks after attending a hearing with
Commission I of the House of Representatives, during which the
issue was also widely discussed.

Three political prisoners convicted over the 1965 coup attempt
-- Soebandrio, Omar Dhani and Abdul Latief -- have applied for
clemency from President Soeharto at the suggestion of the
government, which is planning to grant special remissions to
thousands of prisoners in connection with this year's 50th
anniversary of Indonesia's independence.

The three men, now in their 70s and 80s, were originally
condemned to death for their roles in the coup, but their
sentences were later commuted to life imprisonment after they
applied to President Soeharto for clemency.

Some senior politicians, legal experts and human rights
campaigners have urged the government to release the political
prisoners in the spirit of reconciliation as part of the
country's Golden Anniversary. They have also argued the
prisoners' case on humanitarian grounds, saying that the men have
already paid their debts to society by spending nearly 30 years
in jail.

Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman said that, normally, felons
serving life sentences did not qualify for remission. He added,
however, that in the case of political prisoners, they could
apply for special clemency from the President.

If their requests were to be granted, they could be freed
immediately because, by law, the maximum jail term a person can
serve is 20 years.

Oetojo said earlier that President Soeharto would rule on the
matter before Independence Day on Aug. 17.

When the issue was raised by House members yesterday, Gen.
Feisal said his objection was based chiefly on legal grounds.

"It's not a matter of pardoning the political prisoners. It's
a matter of upholding the supremacy of the country's law," he
told reporters after the hearing.

"We will ignore other factors that have been cited as reasons
for releasing them," he said. "It is beyond the Armed Forces'
authority to consider how old the political prisoners are and how
long they have spent in jail."

The military, he added, did approach the matter from the point
of view of humanitarian considerations, but more from a security
angle.

Soebandrio, 80 years old, was deputy prime minister to
president Sukarno when the abortive coup was staged. Omar Dhani,
71 and an Air Marshall, was commander of the Air Force at the
time and Col. Abdul Latief, now in his 70s, was commander of the
First Infantry Brigade of the Jakarta Military Command.

All three are currently being held in the Cipinang
penitentiary in East Jakarta.

On the appointment of Lt. Gen. (ret.) H.B.L. Mantiri as
Indonesia's new ambassador for Australia, which has stirred
controversy in Australia, Feisal pointed out that opposition to
the appointment was not coming from the Australian government.

The Australian government has accepted Mantiri's nomination,
he told the House members.

Mantiri's appointment has sparked protests in Australia
because of remarks he purportedly made condoning the bloody
incident in Dili, East Timor, in 1991, as "proper".

Mantiri apparently made the remarks during a press interview
in 1992 when he was commander of the Udayana Regional Military
Command which oversees East Timor. The general was not personally
involved in the Dili incident. (imn)