Weak testimonies in PRD activists trials

JAKARTA (JP): The prosecution in the subversion trials of members of the unrecognized Democratic People's Party (PRD) tried yesterday to build their cases on the defendants' alleged involvement in demonstrations between 1995 and 1996.

A labor strike at a shoe factory in Bogor, West Java, in May 1996, and two other demonstrations at the Dutch embassy and the office of Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security were cited. Witnesses, however, were unable to say whether the defendants, tried separately at the South and Central Jakarta district courts, were actually involved in the demonstrations.

PRD leader Budiman Sudjatmiko and his eight colleagues had been arrested for their alleged involvement in the July 27 riots in Central Jakarta. As trials opened last month, the prosecution's case shifted and the activists were accused of undermining the government and the state ideology, Pancasila. The crime, subversion, carries a maximum penalty of death.

The prosecution made no attempt to link the activists to the July riots except to acknowledge they were among the onlookers.

At one of the trials, prosecutors tried to link the defendants with the May 7 - 10, 1996, strike of 4,000 Indoshoe factory workers in Bogor. Witnesses, however, failed to ascertain the defendants were present.

"I did not see Budiman there," said Gunadi, head of Indoshoe personnel. "But I saw a pamphlet encouraging the workers to strike and 'PPBI' was written in it," he said.

Another witness, factory worker Asmawati, also testified the defendants were not present at the strike. "Our demonstration at the Ministry of Manpower was not provoked by PRD," she said.

PPBI or the Center for Indonesian Worker's Struggle is an affiliate of the PRD. Its leader Dita Indah Sari is now being tried in Surabaya for her involvement in the massive strike of 12,000 workers last year.

Yakob Natadipraja, director of Indoshoe, said the PRD forced his workers to protest their wages. But he admitted later his testimony was based on a report from his subordinates. "I did not see it myself. Honestly, I do not know whether it's true that PRD activists stopped the vehicle."

But most of the witnesses acknowledged the presence of PPBI leader Dita Indah Sari at the strikes.

Budiman's lawyer Luhut Pangaribuan told The Jakarta Post the charges were unfair. (35/08)