Sukarno's favorite dancer finally gets recognition of her rights

Sukarno's favorite dancer finally gets recognition of her rights

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A sympathetic old lady was singing a classical Sundanese ballad
midday Thursday in the waiting room of the Jakarta State
Administrative Court compound in Pulo Gebang, East Jakarta.

The ballad was sung by late president Sukarno's favorite
singer/dancer, Nani Nurani, who was waiting to know whether she
was entitled to a permanent identification card, the right of
Indonesian citizens aged over 60.

The 62-year-old woman, wearing a white trouser tunic, said the
song was Sukarno's favorite, taken from a Sundanese folk story
called Lutung Kasarung, about a prince's despair upon realizing
that he was in the form of a monkey while he has to find a bride.

Both the prince and Nurani are searching: One is seeking a
bride, another is seeking justice.

The court ruled that Nurani deserved to have a lifetime ID
card and ordered the Koja subdistrict administration in North
Jakarta to issue the card accordingly. The court also stated that
Nurani had no affiliation to any banned organization,
particularly the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

Presiding Judge Disiplin Manao said in the court that Nurani
was sent to jail for seven years in 1968 but never tried.

"The court acknowledged that she had no direct or indirect
involvement with any banned organizations."

Koja district representative Sri Astuti from the North Jakarta
mayoralty said she will appeal the verdict. The district head
himself was not present at the trial.

After her release from the now-closed Bukit Duri prison in
South Jakarta in 1976, Nurani carried an ID card that identified
her as a former political prisoner. When former president B.J.
Habibie took power in 1998 a new policy to remove the political
prisoner tag was put in place.

After her card expired in February this year, she requested a
permanent ID card.

However, the subdistrict gave her a regular ID card because
she had been jailed on the basis of accusations she had
affiliated with the PKI.

She denied the accusation, saying she was arrested because she
danced at the party's anniversary in Cianjur, West Java, which
was also attended by a number of state officials.

"I was invited because I was a Cipanas Palace dancer and I
didn't know any of the party officials," she said.

She said that three years after the attempted coup d'etat in
1965, military police arrested her and sent her to jail without
trial.

"One of the accusations was that I was an invisible communist
agent. It was outrageous," she said.

Seven years later, she was freed without the chance to clear
her name.

Her life was never the same again.

One time, her nephew got mad at her as he could not join the
Indonesian Military due to Nurani's status as an ex-political
convict.

At family occasions, her extended family preferred not to
mention her name even if she sang at the event.

A bright light came earlier this year when, after 35 years,
she was asked by noted Indonesian violinist Idris Sardi to sing
at his concert last month.

"It was my first performance in front of the public after 35
years. I was thrilled and touched."

Nurani said she had had enough of the discrimination by the
administration.

"I am innocent. I don't want revenge. I just want to
rehabilitate my name," said the woman, who was accompanied by
lawyers from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH).

After the trial, lawyer Taufik Basari said the verdict would
be used as a precedent in the future to defend other people who
were arrested by the New Order regime's anti-communist campaign
in the late 1960s.

"We hope that after this, many victims will have the courage
to demand their rights," he said.

Thousands of innocent people were reportedly arrested without
trial for allegations of supporting PKI.

In 2001, President Abdurrahman Wahid promised to rehabilitate
the people's names but the promise never eventuated.

Nevertheless, in the story of Lutung Kasarung, the prince
eventually found his bride, while the Cipanas Palace dancer won
her right to have a lifetime ID card like other citizens of the
unitary state of Indonesia.