Soebandrio and Omar Dhani released

JAKARTA (JP): Former deputy prime minister Soebandrio pledged to stay away from politics last night shortly before he was due to walk into his freedom after 29 years of incarceration.

"The political world is no longer for me," Soebandrio, 81, told reporters at a press conference inside the Cipinang correctional facility. "I'm happy that I'm going to be free. I have no hard feelings against the government."

Soebandrio and Omar Dhani, the former air force commander, ended their imprisonment at exactly midnight yesterday. Both men had been convicted for their role in the 1965 coup blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party.

"I have repented. I've been reading the Koran everyday. I'm about to reach the hereafter, and I don't want to go to hell," Soebandrio said. "I'm happy that I'll be seeing my family soon."

Omar Dhani, 71, made a similar pledge to stay out of politics. "The first thing I'll do when I get home is kiss my children, grandchildren and my wife," he said.

"There's no hard feelings against the government and I don't have any grudge," he added.

While professing that he had no intention of interfering in the fate of fellow political prisoners, Soebandrio said: "I'll pray for them, that they will also be freed like me." (imn/emb)