Over 14,800 inmates savor freedom
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
At least 14,800 people across the country, mostly convicted of petty crimes, walked free on Wednesday as the government gave a sentence remission to over 103,000 inmates on the 60th anniversary of Indonesia's independence.
Besides the petty criminals, others who had a sentence remission and were thereby released included one of the 2002 Bali bombing convicts and 291 members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin said that except for those who were sentenced to life imprisonment or death, all prisoners were entitled to a reduction in their jail term on Independence Day.
"We are just upholding the law. Except for people who got the death penalty or life sentences, any prisoner has the right to a remission every year regardless of their crime," he said during his visit to Salemba penitentiary in Central Jakarta.
Hamid also announced that the authorities cut the controversial cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir's 30-month prison term by four months and 15 days.
AFP reported on Monday that Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer had asked the government not to cut Ba'asyir's sentence.
Hamid, however, said that he had not received any formal letter or phone call from the Australian government requesting that Ba'asyir not be given a remission.
Ba'asyir was sentenced in March for his involvement in a conspiracy that led to the October 2002 nightclub bombings which killed at least 202 people, including 88 Australians.
Together with Ba'asyir, 19 of the 33 Bali bombing convicts in Kerobokan penitentiary in Denpasar, Bali, were also given a three-month remission each.
They include Abdul Rauf, Andri Octavia, Andi Hidayat, Junaedi, and Hernianto from the Serang group as well as those from Solo and East Kalimantan, such as Makmuri, M Musafak, M Najib Nawawi, Bambang Setiono, Ahmad Budi Wibowo, and Masykur Abdul Kadir.
One Bali bombing convict, whose name was not revealed, was released from prison because of the remission while three of the bombers on death row and two others serving life sentences are not eligible for remission.
Hamid said that besides the 291 GAM members, the government would also pardon all of the 1,482 other GAM members, who are now placed in several prisons in Java and Aceh.
"Right after the signing of the MOU in Helsinki, we sent a letter to the House of Representatives to notify it that the government will grant a pardon to all GAM members. The President will immediately issue a decree to authorize the pardon," he said.
I-box
Tommy could walk in 2007
Convict Hutomo Mandala Putra aka Tommy Soeharto, the youngest son of former president Soeharto, could get out of prison sooner, thanks to the remission granted every Independence Day.
Tommy was granted a cut in his sentence of 11 months and 35 days on Wednesday.
Director general of penitentiaries at the justice ministry, Mardjaman, said that Tommy, who got a 15 year sentence for plotting a murder and illegal arms possession in 2002, could be released from the Batu penitentiary, Nusakambangan, Central Java, in 2007.
The Supreme Court recently reduced his sentence to 10 years.
"By 2007, Tommy will have served two-thirds of his term. According to the law, he can get a conditional release as he has shown good conduct so far," Mardjaman said.
Meanwhile, Soeharto's minister and former chairman of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) Rahardi Ramelan, who just spent two days in Cipinang penitentiary, East Jakarta, for involvement in a graft case, got a sentence remission of two months and four days.