Remarks on ex-prisoners clarified

JAKARTA (JP): A member of the National Commission on Human Rights yesterday said that it is too early at this stage to talk about seeking the release of former communists who have been in jail for nearly 30 years.

Clarifying a statement he made during a seminar to discuss the fate of former and current political prisoners, which was reported by The Jakarta Post yesterday, Bambang Suharto said the commission has been discussing the issue in general but no team has been appointed to look into the matter.

The matter was first raised by Hamid Attamimi, a constitutional law expert and member of the commission who died last month, he added.

Bambang pointed out that the commission has no intention to interfere with the legal process of convicted former communists who are now in jail. "Whether or not they should be released, I think it is the prerogative of the President," he said.

He said the commission is concerned about the fate of the offspring of former and current political prisoners.

Bambang, who said he was involved in the campaign against communism in the 1960s, said the Sept. 30, 1965 plot to grab power by the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) is a "national tragedy that will never by forgotten by the nation nor by history."

"I think we have to always remain on alert against the latent threat of a communist revival," he added. (emb)