Unionist, academic deny they are communists

JAKARTA (JP): Labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan and academic George Junus Aditjondro denied yesterday the military's claim that they are communists.

Mochtar, a leader of the unrecognized Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI), described the accusation, made publicly on Monday by Armed Forces General Affairs chief Maj. Gen. Soeyono, as "slanderous".

"Can he say when I became a communist?" he asked, in an interview with The Jakarta Post. "I'm planning to sue Soeyono," he said, adding that he is awaiting the views of SBSI leaders in the provinces as to what action should be taken.

Meanwhile, George also denied being a communist.

"I am a Gandhi-ist. I am a leftist, yes, I am a socialist, yes, but I believe more in Ghandi's socialism than Marxism," George said, as quoted by AFP, adding that he stands for human rights and freedom of association.

On Monday Soeyono said that Muchtar, George and internationally-renowned Indonesian writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer were communists and were linked to recent incidents of violence which the military says are aimed at destabilizing the government.

Mochtar was recently exonerated by the Supreme Court of charges of inciting last year's labor uprising in the North Sumatran capital Medan.

George, a lecturer of the Satya Wacana Christian University in Salatiga, Central Java, is currently conducting research in Australia. He left Indonesia this year while under police investigation on suspicion of insulting the government in a seminar.

Soeyono said Muchtar was a communist because his father led a bloody communist party-sponsored strike in Bandarbetsi, North Sumatra, in the 1960s.

Muchtar, however, denied that his father had been involved in the Bandarbetsi riot.

Armed Forces chief spokesman Brig. Gen. Suwarno Adiwijaya told The Post yesterday that the three names are only part of a list of people the military believes are communists or activists of "formless" organizations who are out to undermine the government.

He said that, by announcing their names, the military means to remind the public of the latent danger of communism so that it can remain vigilant.

Soeyono's statement received mixed reactions yesterday.

Legislator A.A. Oka Mahendra of the ruling Golkar party said the military must have been armed with sufficient hard evidence before naming names. "Otherwise the government would not have made the claims publicly."

Oka said that Armed Forces' announcement should serve as a warning to the public to remain vigilant against the latent danger of communism, as described by senior government officials, including President Soeharto.

Moslem scholar Abdurrahman Wahid dismissed the move as a trick to divert public attention away from the various problems facing the government.

"It's usual to find a common enemy when you are in trouble. There is nothing unusual about it," he said in a seminar here yesterday.

Abdurrahman said that current events resemble those of the 1970s, when conflicts within the top echelons of the political elite flared up, manifesting themselves in the well-known 1974 riots.

"It is like a cycle. The power holders are trying to put the lid on the political openness they previously encouraged," he said. "When the crisis is over, openness will be encouraged again," Abdurrahman said.

Hendardi of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation and Tohap Simanungkalit of the SBSI both argued that the military must prove its accusations in a court of law.

"Soeyono has trampled on the presumption of innocence in singling out Muchtar Pakpahan as a communist. He (Soeyono) has disrespected the rule of law," Simanungkalit said.

Hendardi said he is worried that the government will continue labeling people as "communists", adding that it is a technique for scaring people who do not share the government's views.

"There is fear that the government will brand organizations which it cannot control as dangerous 'formless organizations'," he said. (pan/imn/rms/anr)