'Prisoners' release no threat to security

JAKARTA (JP): Many politicians say the release of Soebandrio and two other political prisoners convicted in connection with the 1965 abortive communist coup will pose no security threat provided the government stops at these three.

Legislator Aminullah Ibrahim and Abu Hasan Sazili told The Jakarta Post separately on Saturday that the government should resist pressure to release all of the other political prisoners linked with the 1965 upheaval.

The government announced on Friday that President Soeharto has agreed to grant clemency to Soebandrio, Omar Dhani and Raden Soegeng Soetarto -- who were serving life imprisonment terms. They will be freed on Aug. 16.

Soebandrio, now 81, was deputy prime minister at the time of the coup, Omar Dhani, 71, was air marshal and commander of the Air Force; and Soetarto, 77, was a police brigadier general and a top intelligence officer.

Both Aminullah and Abu Hasan said their release did not indicate the end of the communist threat.

"The three of them were not members of PKI (the Indonesian Communist Party)," Aminullah of the Armed Forces faction at the House of Representatives said.

They both noted that the three facilitated the 1965 coup but were not members of the communist party, whereas those still incarcerated were proven to be members who had directly helped engineer the coup attempt.

A prominent Army officer who belonged to the communist party, A. Latief, along with 10 other political prisoners also applied for pardons at about the same time as the three men who are to be released.

Aminullah and Abu Hasan identified Latief as a PKI figure who directly took part in the attempted coup and therefore should remain incarcerated.

"There can be no reprieve for communists," Aminullah emphasized.

Dahlan Ranuwiharjo, a surviving witness of the coup, who was a member of the House of Representatives in 1965, described the three men given clemency as simply "fellow travelers".

"They weren't diehard members of the PKI," Dahlan told the Post.

He agreed that the release could be considered a kind of reconciliation between the government and the three prisoners, but rejected suggestions that this applied to communist supporters.

"There can be no reconciliation with communists," said Dahlan who served in the legislature from 1960 to 1968.

Non-governmental organizations, such as the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), have commended the decision to grant clemency to only the three and called for the release of other "prisoners of conscience".

The Indonesian Community for Humanity (MIK) expressed concern that there were still other prisoners being held, who deserved to be free.

"Political prisoners from the cases in Aceh, Lampung and East Timor, based on the democracy and human rights being expounded by the government, should also be considered for release," MIK's chief organizer, Coki Naipospos, said.

Abu Hasan Sazili from the ruling Golkar faction at the House stressed that the release of the prisoners should not be considered a victory for underground communist supporters.

"Don't regard this as a victory for those communist groups who are thought to still be around," he said, adding that upon the release of Soebandrio, Omar Dhani and Soetarto, people should remain alert to the latent communist threat.

He pointed out that although being released "they were not exonerated".

Aminullah Ibrahim also urged caution among society. He pointed out the case of novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer who, upon his release, produced a book of his experiences while imprisoned.

The 70-year-old novelist served many years as a political prisoner for his writings which are considered to carry communist undertones.

Dahlan brushed aside fears that Soebandrio and his friends would again indulge in spreading communism.

He contended that Indonesian society was now more mature and that being a religious community, a majority of whom are Moslems, such ideas would not have much influence.

Dahlan remarked that the "latent communist threat" deserved to be called "latent" because it fell into the third and lowest category of dangers behind "real" danger and "potential" danger.

"Besides, they are old so why should they go looking for trouble," said the former chairman of the Moslem Students Association (HMI). (mds)