Three labor activists charged with subversion

SURABAYA (JP): Hundreds of police officers guarded the Surabaya district court building, and 16 truckloads of soldiers were stationed nearby, as one of the biggest political trials ever to come to the city began yesterday.

Two men and a woman -- all activists who organized a series of labor strikes and protests -- were arraigned in the court yesterday, charged with subversion, an offense punishable with death.

Dita Indah Sari, 23, and Coen Husein Pontoh, 26, are being tried in the same hearing while M. Soleh, 21, is being tried separately. Dita heads the Center for Indonesian Workers Struggle, Coen is coordinator of the National Farmers Association and Soleh is an executive of the Indonesian Students Solidarity for Democracy.

All three organizations, according to the prosecutors, are under the umbrella of the Democratic People's Party (PRD), whose leaders are being tried on subversion charges in Jakarta.

The three defendants are charged with attempting to subvert the state and topple the legally elected government through their activities in Jakarta, Surabaya and other cities throughout the country.

In the course of their activities, they sought to repeal five political laws and the 1963 anti-Subversion Law with which they are now being charged, according to the prosecutors.

"They undermined the Pancasila and the state to achieve the political goals of the PRD," according to the dossier read in court yesterday.

The three also face lesser charges, like sowing enmity and hatred against the government.

They were arrested early in July after organizing two major workers' protests, each one involving some 10,000 people from 10 factories at the Tandes industrial estate in the southern suburb of Surabaya.

The protests, in which they demanded the minimum wage of workers in Surabaya be raised to Rp 7,000 from Rp 5,200, ended violently when the military met strong resistance when they tried to disperse the crowd. There were no deaths, but some of the protesters, including Dita and Coen, were injured.

The three defendants have retained Trimoelja D. Soerjadi, a leading human rights lawyer, along with a host of other lawyers, to represent them in court. (25/emb)