PRD is declared illegal

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)