Prisoners of conscience
Prisoners of conscience
It is barely a year since President Abdurrahman Wahid ordered
the release of all remaining political prisoners from Indonesian
jails under a general amnesty program. The President then lived
up to his image and reputation as a humanist, a man whom many
people at home and abroad hoped would lead Indonesia through the
transition from an authoritarian to a democratic regime. In the
envisaged civil society, or what we fondly call the New
Indonesia, no person would ever be condemned to jail for his or
her political beliefs. The nation has certainly had enough of
that.
For more than four decades, under the successive regimes of
presidents Sukarno and Soeharto, many people were sent to jail
for political dissent. Some for speaking out against the regime,
others, like many East Timorese, Irianese (West Papuans) and
Acehnese, for demanding an independent state. Some of these
people were jailed without trial, and others were tried in courts
under circumstances that could hardly be described as fair. Many
others were less fortunate: they were summarily executed.
Such intolerance for political dissent blemished the otherwise
impressive contributions of Indonesia's first two presidents to
the nation-building process: Sukarno for leading the nation to
independence, and Soeharto for lifting the nation out of abject
poverty. But during the course of their reigns, both men resorted
to repressive means and persecuted their political opponents.
Now, President Abdurrahman seems to be making the same mistake.
He has started arresting political dissidents, and may soon put
them in jail.
Last week, the police arrested five leaders of the Papuan
Presidium Council -- Theys Hiyo Eluay, Thaha Moh. Alamid, Don
Flassy, John Mambor and Herman Awom -- ahead of a rally to mark
the anniversary of the 1961 West Papua declaration of
independence. In November, police arrested Muhammad Nazar,
chairman of the Information Center for Aceh Referendum (SIRA),
also before his group organized a massive political rally to call
for a self-determination referendum in the province.
Their arrests bore all the hallmarks of the Soeharto regime.
They were charged with crimes supposedly committed sometime ago.
Police invoked either the subversion law -- Soeharto's favorite
tool to suppress dissidents -- or an article in the Criminal Code
pertaining to the spread of hatred against the government, a tool
dating back to the Dutch colonial regime.
The six men arrested had one thing in common: they were
preaching peaceful methods in their struggle for independence or,
in the case of SIRA, a referendum of self-determination. There
are many in Irian Jaya and Aceh who have taken up arms in this
struggle, but they have not been arrested, even as the military
claims to know the precise location of the jungle hideout of the
Free Aceh Movement.
It appears the government considers these six men potentially
far more dangerous than the armed separatist guerrillas precisely
because they use peaceful democratic means, not bullets, in their
struggle for freedom. This is a far more effective weapon in
influencing public opinion and gaining widespread support, both
at home and around the world. Indonesia's own history, from the
independence struggle of the early years of Sukarno and M. Hatta,
testifies to the importance of winning the public opinion
campaign.
Ironically, by arresting the Papuan Presidium Council leaders
and the SIRA chairman, the government has only strengthened their
standing in national and international public opinion.
If these men are tried, convicted and sent to jail, they will
become the first political prisoners, or prisoners of conscience,
under the Gus Dur regime. If and when this happen, the government
will no longer be able to take for granted international support
for Indonesia's territorial integrity.
We can be sure the international community will reassess its
position with regard to Indonesia's claims over Aceh and Irian
Jaya if Jakarta reverts to the old ways of abusing people's basic
democratic rights.