Witness held 'hostage' during unionist's trial

Witness held 'hostage' during unionist's trial

JAKARTA (JP): The court trying labor activist Muchtar Pakpahan
was marked yesterday with an incident in which presiding Judge
Djazuli P. Sudibyo decided to hold a witness "hostage" for
allegedly giving false testimony.

Djazuli ordered Berar Fathia be isolated in a guarded room so
she could "clearly reconsider" the statements she had just made
before the court. After about three hours, Berar was again
presented to the court and ordered to continue with her
testimony.

Pakpahan's defense lawyers protested the decision by the judge
of the South Jakarta District Court, saying it was legally
unfounded.

"I'll take the responsibility for that," Djazuli retorted.

Berar was a relatively unknown activist of the Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI) who shot to prominence when she announced
last year she would run for president in 1998. She had only given
about 15 minutes of testimony yesterday when the judge accused
her of perjury, and ordered the prosecutors to take her out of
the court room and to "hold her hostage".

Berar was summoned by the prosecution to testify against
Muchtar Pakpahan, who is standing trial for allegedly undermining
the state ideology Pancasila and defaming President Soeharto.

Yesterday, Berar said she did not remember the "exact wording"
of the anti-government and anti-Soeharto speeches that Pakpahan
allegedly made on various occasions between June and July last
year.

Djazuli said Berar's testimony contradicted what she had
previously told the interrogators and which was included in the
dossier on Pakpahan. The judge then ordered her to retract her
statements yesterday.

In the dossier, Berar said she remembered Pakpahan making
anti-government statements, including one which said President
Soeharto should be taken to court for upsetting the country's
rules of law.

Berar said: "The statements in the dossier were those that I
made when I was not under oath, and I thought then that in court
I would be able to tell the truth, just like I did just now. Is
that wrong?"

Berar said during investigation police interrogators wore her
down by posing the same questions over and over so that she
eventually agreed to sign the dossier regardless of the content.

The other prosecution witnesses testifying against Pakpahan
yesterday were his fellow activists from the independent
Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI): Mehbob, Rekson Silaban,
Azrizal Noor and Sulistri. Another witness taking the stand
yesterday was Umar Husin, the secretary-general of a new mass
organization Masyumi.

Pakpahan told the court he had no objections to the witnesses'
testimonies.

Separately at the Central Jakarta District Court, Catholic
priest Ignatius Sandyawan Sumardi testified he had been thinking
only of extending help when he decided to shelter Budiman
Sudjatmiko, the leader of the banned Democratic People's Party
(PRD) currently standing trial for subversion.

Sandyawan said he and other volunteers formed an independent
rescue center to help victims of the July 27 riots.

"One day someone claiming to be Yakob called the center and
asked me for shelter. When I went to the agreed spot, Budiman and
another one called Petrus were also there, along with Yakobus.
They looked very frightened," said Sandyawan.

Besides Budiman, eight PRD activists including Yakobus Eko
Kurniawan and Petrus Hariyanto are also being tried for
subversion.

"I did not know them before. So, spontaneously I took them to
my brother's house. He frequently helps me shelter my
'children'," said Sandyawan who actively helps street children.

"Budiman told me he was afraid he would be arbitrarily
arrested. He also said he was frightened because, following the
riot, the military issued a 'shoot on the spot' order," he said.

The priest testified he found out about Budiman's position as
the chairman of the PRD from the mass media. (35/08)