Oetojo says security checks O.K.
Oetojo says security checks O.K.
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman said citizens found by the Bakorstanas, a security coordinating body, to have past communist links can take the matter to court if they believe the judgment is wrong.
He said Bakorstanas has the authority to determine whether people had links with the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), which was outlawed because of its involvement in a coup attempt in 1965.
The minister was commenting on the increasing criticism of the Armed Forces' policy to step up the campaign to weed out politicians who had past links with the now defunct communist party.
Several prominent figures, including human rights activists, say that the authority to determine whether someone had past communist involvement lies with the judicial system.
At present Bakorstanas screens prospective officials and politicians. Anyone found to have past communist links cannot enter the bureaucracy nor can they become a leader of a political organization.
"Bakorstanas has the full authority to conduct investigations into possible leftist elements in any organization," Oetojo said after a meeting with Malaysian Chief Justice Tan Sri Dato' Haji Mohd Eusoff Chin.
He also made it clear that a citizen declared to have links with any outlawed organization can sue Bakorstanas if they are sure the finding is wrong.
"Indonesia upholds the supremacy of law, so let the court decide the truth," he said.
He pointed out that the chairman of the West Java chapter of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), Djadjang Kurniadi, who is facing allegations of being involved in communist activities could sue the security body if he was dissatisfied with the finding.
The West Java military commander announced late last year that Djadjang had been involved, either directly or indirectly, in the attempted communist coup of 1965.
Djadjang had been singled out as a member of the pro-communist camp within the Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI). PNI, in addition to two Christian groupings and other minor nationalist parties, merged into the PDI in 1973.
The communist issue resurfaced after Jusuf Merukh, a notorious PDI party rebel, who leads a rival board set up by a group of disgruntled party leaders, claimed that up to 300 PDI members had past communist links.
Deputy chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights Marzuki Darusman said on Monday that allegations that a citizen has communist links should be proven in court.
"The political and ideological approach cannot be used to settle the problem," he said as quoted by the Kompas daily newspaper.
PDI's chief Megawati Soekarnoputri said it was unfair to shape public opinion that PDI was the only organization which is suspected to have former communist activists. She insisted that the Armed Forces and the security agencies should treat other political organizations in the same way.
"The screening, if it is carried out again, should not be limited to the PDI alone, but should cover the ruling Golkar and PPP (United Development Party) as well," she said.
Commander of the Armed Forces (ABRI) Gen. Feisal Tanjung said that Megawati should offer her idea to the House of Representatives for endorsement.
"ABRI will act only upon a government request," he said.
He said that the Armed Forces took the matter seriously and would investigate PDI leaders suspected of having connections with the communist party.
All political organizations make it requisite that anyone wanting to be a member must have no links with the communist party or any other banned political organization. (imn)