Soeharto labels PRD insurgent

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto yesterday topped a series of officials' condemnations against the Democratic People's Party (PRD) when he denounced the organization as insurgent.

Minister of Information Harmoko said that after chairing the monthly cabinet meeting on economy at the Bina Graha presidential office, Soeharto had briefed the ministers on the details and the background of the July 27 riots: Only the ministers of administrative reforms, youth affairs and sports, and religious affairs were absent from the briefing.

Vice President Try Sutrisno and Armed Forces Commander Gen. Feisal Tanjung also attended the briefing.

Soeharto said the PRD, an officially unrecognized organization, had "clearly conducted activities which had the characteristics of insurgency".

The organization had also shown, through its July 22 Political Manifest, that it followed lines of thought and action which resembled the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), Soeharto said.

The President then called on the whole community to maintain their vigilance to preserve national unity and stability.

"I call on all ministers to maintain our struggle within the system of the state-ideology Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution," Soeharto was quoted by Harmoko as saying.

The PRD is an umbrella group for student, worker and farmer organizations. It was set up in 1995 to channel pro-democracy demands. It has been accused of masterminding the riots that erupted in Jakarta on Saturday, July 27, and the smaller waves of protest that followed the forced takeover of the disputed headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party.

According to the military, 170 people have been detained for questioning in connection with the riots that left three people dead, 22 buildings burnt and damaged and dozens injured.

A number of people -- including politician Ridwan Saidi and labor activist Muchtar Pakpahan -- have been questioned. PRD chairman Budiman Sujatmiko is still in hiding.

Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M., who has kept a low profile and refrained from commenting since the riots broke out, said yesterday that his office would soon launch a new register of all the social organizations in the country.

"(The register) is needed to put things in order, especially since the emergence of the PRD," he said.

Yogie denied speculation that the government had failed to anticipate that the activities of the PRD would develop to such a magnitude and lead to violence.

"No, we were not taken by surprise. We never expected that they would commit such brutality," he said.

Yesterday, the military continued its crackdown on people that it alleged were activists of the PRD or its wings, such as the Indonesian Students Solidarity for Democracy (SMID) group. The immigration department also slapped a travel ban on Budiman Sudjatmiko, Muchtar Pakpahan, Jimmy Aryana, Yopie Lasut, Edi Gembul and Garda Sembiring.

In Surabaya, the military has arrested two activists of the PRD and three of the SMID. The chief of the regional agency for the coordination of support for the development of national stability, Maj. Gen. Imam Utomo, said the SMID activists arrested were Zaenal Abidin and Trio Yohanes Muliate Marpaung from Wijaya Kusuma University and Lisa Febriyanti from Airlangga University. Imam would not name the two PRD activists.

The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation questioned yesterday the "accuracy of the government's accusations" against the students.

"The accusations were made too hastily and are too judgmental," the foundation said in a statement. The statement pointed out that Budiman Sudjatmiko's father was never a member of the PKI. That he was, in fact, the son of an activist of the Hisbullah Moslem movement during the independence war.

The foundation also said that Garda Sembiring's father was a retired army officer and that the parents of Andi Arief, the chairman of SMID, were members of the Nahdlatul Ulama Moslem organization. (swe/16/15/har/imn)