Release of political prisoners demanded

JAKARTA (JP): Just hours after the resignation of President Soeharto, there were already strong calls for the new government to release those incarcerated on "political" grounds.

Legal expert Loebby Lukman said here yesterday that the new head of state should promptly grant amnesties and absolutions to those currently imprisoned for political cases such as former legislator Sri Bintang Pamungkas and labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan.

"This is because the grounds used by the government should now change along with the system," Loebby said.

The University of Indonesia lecturer was quoted by Antara as saying that Bintang and Pakpahan were jailed during the Soeharto era because they opposed policies at that time.

Now, according to Loebby, their struggle may very well be the things that the new government is striving to achieve.

But, in the end, it all depends on President Habibie and whether he wishes to continue the policies of the old regime, Loebby remarked.

Separately, chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) Bambang Widjojanto said the foundation would meet the Ministry of Justice's director general for correctional institutions to ask the latter to reconsider Bintang's imprisonment.

He also argued that there was no longer any basis for keeping Bintang in jail. He has been serving a 34-month term at Cipinang Penitentiary since May 1996 after being found guilty of defaming Soeharto during a seminar in Berlin in 1995.

Bintang, a controversial politician, was formerly a legislator of the United Development Party (PPP) in the House of Representatives from 1992. He was later recalled by the party for being too outspoken.

Pakpahan, who is serving a four-year jail term for allegedly inciting a mass labor riot in Medan, North Sumatra, in April 1994, is chairman of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union, which was not recognized by Soeharto's government.

Pakpahan is also being tried for slandering Soeharto in speeches shortly before the bloody July 27 incident in 1996.

The outspoken secretary-general of the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI), Adi Sasono, also charged yesterday that political prisoners should be released.

Bintang's wife, Ernalia, was optimistic that her husband and Pakpahan would soon be released.

Ernalia said she had been informed by someone that influential Moslem scholar Amien Rais had also said that they would be released. No officials could be reached to confirm the claim. (ivy/aan)