Prosecution witnesses recall little in trial of Pakpahan

Prosecution witnesses recall little in trial of Pakpahan

JAKARTA (JP): Four witnesses for the prosecution in the trial
against labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan said yesterday they could
not corroborate allegations that he had made statements that
could be construed as undermining the government.

Politicians Berar Fathia, Supeni and Djathi Koesoemo and
businessman I Made Sunarka were summoned by the South Jakarta
District Court to testify against Muchtar, who faces charges of
subversion.

The four had been present at some of the meetings last year in
which Muchtar, the chairman of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor
Union, allegedly made statements attacking the government.

But neither of them were able to recall any statements by
Muchtar that undermined the government.

When prosecutor R. Moekiat read some of the statements he said
were made by Muchtar, Supeni, the chairperson of the New
Indonesian Nationalist Party, and Djathi said they had not heard
them, while Sunarka said he did not know the exact wording.

Fathia took a similar position.

She urged the court to ignore a written statement prepared by
investigators which she had signed, claiming she had been
coerced.

She recalled that when she was questioned, the interrogators
dimmed the lights in the room and Moekiat, now prosecuting the
case, uttered the intimidating words: "it's an unpleasant
darkness you don't want to be in".

Moekiat immediately rejected the claim.

Judge Djadzuli P. Sudibyo said the Criminal Code Procedures
allowed a witness to retract statements he or she had made to the
investigators only if they were made under coercion.

The judge had not ruled whether or not to accept Fathia's
request when he adjourned the hearing until Monday.

Pakpahan is being tried for subversion over the alleged anti-
government statements he made in speeches in both here and
Portugal between June and July 1996, and in a book he wrote,
Potret Negara Indonesia (Portrait of Indonesia), which was
published in 1995 and only banned last year.

He was charged under the 1963 Anti-Subversion Law which
carries a maximum penalty of death.

The court yesterday also tried leaders of the Democratic
People's Party (PRD) -- Petrus Hariyanto, Victor Da Costa, Ken
Budha Kusumandaru, Ignatius Putut Arintoko in separate rooms.

The activists have been charged with subversion for their
alleged attempts to undermine and topple the government through
various activities including organizing labor demonstrations.

As in Muchtar's case, state prosecutors presented activists as
witnesses, and had difficulty proving their cases.

Former legislator Sri Bintang Pamungkas, testifying in the
trial of Petrus, said the political position taken by the PRD was
not much different from the one he had adopted or that of the
Petition 50 group of dissidents.

"I aired the same issues as far back as in 1992 and I have not
been charged with any crime," Bintang said.

He cited the group's demand to repeal five political laws.

Bintang however has already been convicted for slandering
President Soeharto. He has not yet been jailed, as his case is
pending at the Supreme Court.

In the trial of PRD chairman Budiman Sujatmiko at the Central
Jakarta District Court yesterday, the prosecution made little
gain from the testimony of human rights campaigner H.J.C. Princen
for the prosecution.

Princen first declined to corroborate the prosecution's
allegations that the PRD, during a reception in July, had
declared its ideology was social democracy.

"I heard the PRD principles, but I don't exactly remember the
content," said Princen, who took the witness stand in his
wheelchair.

"Did you or did you not hear the defendant state that the
basic principle of the PRD was not the Pancasila but Social
Democracy?" Prosecutor Salim asked.

"Yes, I heard something like that," Princen answered.

Not wishing to be outdone, defense lawyer Luhut Pangaribuan
during the cross-examination asked Princen: "Did you specifically
see or hear the words 'PRD's principle is not Pancasila' ?"

"I never picked up those such words. I never heard the
defendant planning to topple the government," Princen said.

The prosecution also brought in two Dutch embassy security
guards as witnesses. They were present when PRD members scaled
the embassy fence to stage a demonstration against Indonesian
policy in East Timor in December 1995.

But neither witness, Achmad Murodi or Achmad Yani, was able to
recall whether or not Budiman had been at the embassy.

"I do not recognize any of their faces. I did not see the
defendant there," Yani said. (08/35)