Special gift planned for prisoners

Special gift planned for prisoners

JAKARTA (JP): The government promised yesterday to grant
special clemency to well-behaved prisoners in commemoration of
Indonesia's 50th anniversary, though political prisoners will not
be among those shown leniency.

The government will reduce the jail terms of well-behaved
prisoners by three months, Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman told
journalists.

Oetojo made the remarks after installing Maj. Gen. Pranowo as
the new director general of immigration, replacing Brig. Gen.
(ret) Roni Sikap Sinuraya. Formerly, Pranowo was the President's
military secretary.

"The government has issued the decree for the implementation
of the special clemency to the Ministry of Justice offices in
every province," Oetojo said.

He added that the selection process would be handled at each
inmate's particular penitentiary.

Oetojo, however, ruled out the possibility of granting amnesty
to "political prisoners" and simply said: "The best thing we (the
ministry) can do in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of
Indonesia's Independence is grant special amnesty to certain
prisoners," he said.

Another cabinet member, Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie
S.M., holds a view similar to the government's stand on political
prisoners.

He hinted his opposition to a suggestion made by Roeslan
Abdulgani, a former chief of the Pancasila Propagation Board
(BP7), that the government give general amnesty to political
prisoners.

"It was Mr. Roeslan's right to air his personal opinion but
it's still the government with the authority to decide," he told
reporters after a hearing with Commission II of the House of
Representatives yesterday.

Yogie said the activities of people with past links to the
outlawed Indonesian Communist Party are monitored by his and
other ministries such as the Ministry of Defense and Security and
the Ministry of Justice.

Oetojo also rejected the views of human rights and Pancasila
officials that the government policy of stamping "ET", short for
Ex-Tapol, or ex-political detainee, on the identity cards of
people once detained for alleged communist activity is without
legal basis.

He said that the authority to impose the label came from a
standard regulation for the protection of state interests.

"The authority to determine the policy for the protection of
state interests is accepted in all countries in the world,"
Oetojo asserted.(imn/29)