Soebandrio's wife still waits for answer to prayer

Soebandrio's wife still waits for answer to prayer

JAKARTA (JP): Sri Kusdyantinah has been praying for the
release of her husband Soebandrio, the deputy prime minister
during president Soekarno's time, who is serving life
imprisonment for his role in the abortive communist coup attempt
in 1965.

Now there is a glimmer of hope that her prayer would be
answered.

The government has indicated that, in connection with
Indonesia's 50th independence anniversary this year, it is
planning to give special remissions for prisoners.

Those serving life term, like Soebandrio, by law do not
qualify for remissions, but Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman has
nevertheless encouraged them to apply for "special" clemency from
President Soeharto to have their sentences commuted, even though
they may have applied for one, and granted one, previously.

Kusdyantinah, in an interview with The Jakarta Post confirmed
that her husband has formally applied for clemency. If granted,
his sentence would likely be commuted to 20 years, and given that
Soebandrio has already served for nearly 30 years, this could
mean he would be freed on or by Independence Day on Aug. 17.

Soebandrio was originally given the death sentence but it was
commuted to life after he applied for clemency.

Everything now depends on President Soeharto, who has the
constitutional prerogative, but news that Soebandrio, along with
two other top political prisoners implicated for the 1965 coup,
have applied for "special" clemency has sparked a debate on
whether or not the head of state should grant their requests.

Most politicians believe that given the gravity of their
action, these political prisoners should spend the rest of their
lives behind bar. Human rights campaigners however say these
political prisoners had already more than paid their debts to
society. Besides, they are harmless because they are already in
their 70s and 80s. Soebandrio himself is 81.

"I can only pray to God for the release of my husband,"
Kusdyantinah said in the interview conducted at her Menteng home.

She said her husband promised her more than once that he would
take her on a haj pilgrimage to Mecca if he is released. She said
she had always wanted to go on the pilgrimage and to pray before
the tomb of Prophet Muhammad. She has postponed the trip because
she did not have the financial means.

Kusdyantinah said she believed she has once experienced
Lailatul Kadar, a spiritual experience that one goes during
prayer in the middle of the holy month of Ramadhan.

The term itself apply to the night in which the Holy Koran was
first revealed to Prophet Muhammad.

"I know it was Lailatul Kadar, because the signals matched the
descriptions given by Prophet Muhammad," she said, adding on that
night the moon and the stars shone brightly and there was no
cloud and no wind.

Kusdyantinah said she and her three grown up children visit
Soebandrio at the Cipinang correctional institution in East
Jakarta twice a week.

Another promise he has always made to her is that he would
support her financially, she said. She did not say how he planned
to make a living and support the family.

Soebandrio has never been the breadwinner for Kusdyantinah and
her family. They were married in 1980 when he was already serving
time in Cipinang.

Was it a marriage of convenience? Not exactly.

The two went way back together to their childhood days and
were in fact distant relatives. "Pak Soebandrio's father was a
district chief, and my father was his assistant," she said.

Kusdyantinah and Soebandrio became closer in 1974, after her
first husband died. By then, Soebandrio was also a widower and
his only son from the first marriage had already died in 1971.

The two met once a year as Soebandrio was allowed to celebrate
Idul Fitri outside. They were married on Idul Fitri day in 1980.
She was then in her early 40s.

What did she see in him exactly that drew her to him?

Kusdyantinah said Soebandrio helped her go through the
difficult period after the death of her first husband, and taught
her to persevere and to get on with life.

"Pak Soebandrio went through far worst experiences than me,
but he remained so firm and patient," she said. "It was not easy
for a woman in her early 40s to adapt to a new husband, compared
to girls in her 20s," she said.

She said she has been living on her own since the marriage.

She has been teaching foreign languages, translating foreign
books, and accepts lodgers in the house to earn her living.

She has been lecturing English at the Universitas Nasional in
South Jakarta since 1980. She is also a director at Akademi
Bahasa Indonesia, a foreign language school in Jakarta, where she
teaches Korean language.

She said she used to join several charitable organizations but
has now stopped because of her tight schedule in teaching English
and translating foreign books on philosophy and fiction.

"I have translated five masterpieces of Khalil Gibran, The
Prophet, The Prophet's Park, The Sand and Foam, The Poet's Voice,
and The Song of Waves.

She also translated four books of Alvin Toffler: The Future
Shock, The Review and Premises, The Third Wave, and The Adaptive
Corporation. "I am now in the middle of translating Alvin
Toffler's War and Anti-War."

Being married to a notorious political prisoner has been
difficult for her, but even more so for her three children, the
oldest is now 43 years old, the second 41 and the youngest 24.

She said her children had difficulties at schools and in the
neighborhood when people learned that their mother was married to
Soebandrio.

Like her, they are managing their lives as best as they could.

"Thank God, I got the teaching job at the university and my
names are imprinted in the books I translate, all without having
to conceal my identity," she said.