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)