Pakpahan seeks independent team for opinion on his health

JAKARTA (JP): Jailed labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan demanded yesterday that the government form an independent medical team to seek another opinion after his request to get treatment abroad had been turned down.

His lawyer, Lawyer Bambang Widjojanto, said the team should involve the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as an independent party.

Bambang said the Criminal Code Procedure did not mention when or where a detainee could seek medical treatment.

Based on a second opinion from a team of doctors from the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, the government turned down Tuesday Pakpahan's request for medical treatment abroad.

Attorney General Singgih said the government-established team had concluded that Pakpahan did not need to go abroad for medical treatment because his illness could be handled by local doctors.

Pakpahan, chairman of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union, was admitted to Cikini private hospital in Central Jakarta in March, four days after he yelled at a South Jakarta District Court judge for ignoring his deteriorating health.

The union's secretary-general, Sunarti, said that Pakpahan was suffering a lung tumor, a blood clot on the brain and appendicitis.

Cikini Hospital doctors recommended a lung imagy fluorescence endoscopy (LIFE). This treatment is unavailable in Indonesia.

Pakpahan, who was convicted over a labor riot in Medan in 1994, is being tried by the South Jakarta District Court on charges of subversion over a series of antigovernment speeches he gave last year.

The hearing has been adjourned since March because of his deteriorating health.

Sunarti told The Jakarta Post that an ICRC member had said the committee could meet Pakpahan's request with the government's permission.

National Commission on Human Rights member Muladi said yesterday in the Central Java capital of Semarang that Pakpahan's request could be politically motivated.

"I believe there are certain parties who would do anything to have Pakpahan treated abroad. In this respect, the attorney general's refusal to let him go is understandable," he said.

Muladi said Pakpahan could be treated abroad if his illness was very serious and Indonesian doctors could not treat him.

"I believe that Pakpahan's illness can be cured here," he said. (05/har)