SBSI chief collapses during court hearing

JAKARTA (JP): Muchtar Pakpahan, the chairman of the rebel Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI), collapsed during a court hearing in Medan yesterday as he was reading his defense against charges of inciting workers to violence last April.

"He may have been so tired that he passed out," said David Pella, an SBSI official, told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

The second hearing yesterday was due to hear Muchtar presenting his defense. He collapsed only minutes after the session got underway, David said.

He was immediately rushed to a hospital in the city, David said. He did not have any knowledge of the cause.

Friends recalled that Muchtar also looked pale when he was arraigned before the court on Monday.

The hearing was adjourned indefinitely pending the health news of the defendant, David said.

The government has blamed SBSI for the workers riot in April which left one businessman dead and dozens of factories damaged. Prosecutors said Muchtar was in Medan several times in the run up to the riot to organize the workers' protest march.

Muchtar, himself a lawyer by training, was in Semarang, Central Java, when the riots broke out. For the trial he is being defended by no fewer than 19 lawyers. (rms)