PRD is declared illegal

JAKARTA (JP): The government declared yesterday the Democratic People's Party (PRD) and organizations associated with it as illegal.

The government also ordered its activists and sympathizers to dissolve.

Officials of the National Police, the Attorney General's Office, the State Intelligence Coordinating Body, the Armed Forces headquarters and the Home Affairs Ministry said in a joint statement yesterday that PRD and its associated organizations have disturbed national stability and order.

The six associate organizations include the Indonesian Students Solidarity, the Center for Indonesian Labor Struggle, the People's Cultural Network, the National Farmers Association, the Indonesian People Association, the Djakarta People Association and the Solo People Association.

The PRD and the other six organizations have failed to name state ideology Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution as their political guidelines, according to former director-general of sociopolitical affairs Sutoyo N.K., who chaired the interdepartmental investigation into the organizations.

Sutoyo, however, denied an earlier government allegation that the PRD was connected with the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), blamed for the bloody 1965 coup attempt.

"We (the government) have never considered PRD identical with PKI," he said.

PRD was established on July 22 last year at a gathering at the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute.

Nine PRD leaders were recently sentenced to between 18 months and 13 years in prison for subversion, with chairman Budiman Sudjatmiko receiving the longest term.

Sutoyo said the government would continue investigating other problematic organizations, including the Democratic Union Development Party and the Indonesian Prosperous Workers Union. (imn)