Trial of students begins over plot for Islamic state

JAKARTA (JP): The trial began yesterday of two university students charged with involvement in a plot to turn Indonesia into an Islamic state.

Prosecutor D. Siswadi told the South Jakarta District Court that, in pursuing their cause, Junaedi Prakoso and Ronny Dwi Argaputera had "publicly expressed hostility, hatred, and insults towards the Indonesian government".

Under the Criminal Code, the offense carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years and/or a fine of Rp 4,500 (US$1.50).

Siswadi said that, after being sworn as members of a movement aiming to establish the Indonesian Islamic State (NII), Junaedi and Ronny had helped recruit new members.

Fajri, Rembun Wuri Widodo and Lukman Hakim, all witnesses in the case, were among those allegedly recruited by the defendants.

The movement aimed to introduce Islamic law and abolish the Pancasila, Siswadi said.

Lawyers from the Indonesian Legal Aid and the Human Rights Association, who are representing the accused, said the case was political and that their clients had not been involved in any crimes.

The defense lawyers were opposed to the use of the Criminal Code articles concerning "sowing hatred" and "sowing enmity" against the government.

Meanwhile, in a different room of the court building, a prosecutor rebutted the defense statement of a Democratic People's Party (PRD) activist, Wilson bin Nurtiyas.

Prosecutor Soeprapto told the South Jakarta District Court that the defense statement was judicially unacceptable.

The statement only made his involvement in the party and its affiliate, the Center of Labor Movement and the Indonesian Solidarity Movement for Maubere -- which supports a referendum in East Timor -- more obvious, he said.

"Based on that, we are determined to continue with our indictment," he said. The prosecutor's counterplea was handed down after Wilson read his defense statement.

Last week, the prosecutor requested the court to sentence Wilson to eleven years in jail.

Wilson was the labor movement's chief of education, information and international relations and the Maubere movement's coordinator. He was charged with undermining the state ideology Pancasila through his activities in the organizations between 1994 and 1996.

The same indictment was handed down to other party activists who were sentenced in April to up to 13 years imprisonment.

Wilson and fellow activist, I Gusti Agung Anom Astika, are the latest PRD activists to go on trial. (05/40)