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)