Prisoner R.S. Soetarto reunited with his family

Prisoner R.S. Soetarto reunited with his family

JAKARTA (JP): Police Brig. Gen. Raden Soegeng Soetarto was
reunited with his family yesterday, almost 30 years after he was
convicted of being involved in the 1965 coup attempt blamed on
the Indonesian Communist Party.

He, together with two other long-serving political prisoners
linked to the coup, was freed from jail on Aug. 17. Illness kept
him from taking advantage of the President's clemency until
yesterday.

Dry-eyed family members saw the reunification as the starting
point of their new life.

"I cannot shed tears though I feel so touched by my father's
return," Dewi Wilutomo, Soetarto's second child, told The Jakarta
Post at the St. Carolus Hospital where Soetarto was treated for
depression since May last year.

Together with her mother Moesmariniwijati Soetarto, her eldest
brother Waskito Adiribowo, her sister Retno Palapaningsih,
Retno's husband Suryo Widagdo and Retno's son Rea Basworo, Dewi
came to the hospital to take her father home.

Soetarto served his sentence at the Cipinang penitentiary with
fellow political detainees Soebandrio and Omar Dhani. The latter
walked free last week.

Soebandrio, 81, is a former foreign minister and Omar Dhani,
71, a former air force chief of staff.

The three men were originally sentenced to death for their
parts in the attempted coup against then President Sukarno.
President Soeharto commuted their sentences to life imprisonment
in the early 1980s, reportedly on humanitarian grounds.

Soetarto left the hospital early in the morning. Close
relatives and the hospital's nurses joined the procession which
began at 6 a.m. with mass at the hospital's chapel. The service,
dedicated to Soetarto's freedom, was held without him.

He was still in bed when his wife and his three children came
to his room half an hour later. Soetarto had refused to get up
when the duty nurse told him it was his last morning in the
hospital.

"I am not supposed to leave this hospital until Sept. 3," he
insisted, remembering his doctor's orders to return to the
hospital for check up early next month.

He only agreed to leave the hospital after his son Waskito
showed him the hospital's notice.

"My husband has been and is always an obedient person. He does
everything his doctor tells him to do," his wife said.

She could hardly stop laughing when her husband demanded extra
cigarettes in defiance of his doctor's warning. Soetarto is
allowed six cigarettes a day.

Soetarto, known as a silent man, became talkative on his way
home.

"Jakarta has developed a lot, hasn't it?" he queried his son
Waskito, who was driving the car. "I don't think I could find my
own way home," he added.

He also joked when he arrived home.

"I don't like that hospital. I don't want to return," he
commented to the laughter of his family.

He also explained that his doctor ordered him to eat porridge,
even though he felt he had had more than enough during his time
in hospital.

"It is the doctor's order," he quipped. (imn)