Witness testifying for Pakpahan under threat of arrest

JAKARTA (JP): A witness testifying for labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan was threatened yesterday with arrest for perjury.

South Jakarta district court judge, Djadzuli P. Sudibyo, said he needed until Thursday to decide whether Berar Fathia should be arrested or simply removed from the witness list.

The session was dominated by heated debate between the judge and Berar's lawyers, Adnan Buyung Nasution and Luthfie M. Hakim, over the witness' intention to withdraw the confession she made under interrogation by government prosecutors.

Berar, an Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) activist, said she had been intimidated by investigators when giving evidence on her knowledge of the accused's activities.

She insisted she be allowed to "spell out the truth" in the trial but the judge refused to allow a retraction of her testimony, given to government prosecutors.

Judge Djadzuli insisted Berar's claims of intimidation were a fabrication and pointed to her signature on a text of the questioning as proof.

Pakpahan was charged with subversion for insulting President Soeharto and the Armed Forces. The offense carries a maximum penalty of death.

Djadzuli's rejection of Berar's request provoked an aggressive reaction from lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution. He attacked the judge for denying Berar the right to explain why she had changed her testimony.

"The witness should be allowed the chance to prove her claim she had been intimidated by the prosecutors," Buyung said. "If this right is denied, what will the world say about this trial?"

Lawyer Luthfie said Berar was intimidated into signing the results of her questioning. She was put in a dark room and an investigator, Moekiat, asked her, "Look, what a beautiful starry night outside. What's good about staying in this dark chamber?"

Luthfie said the soft intimidation had obviously been successful in pressuring the witness to testify in line with the interrogation results she had signed.

In response to the lawyers' protests, Djadzuli said only that the court clerk would "note the objection."

The judge said Berar's testimony was no longer needed. The trial was adjourned until Thursday.

Meanwhile, in a separate trial in the Central Jakarta district court, veteran journalist Goenawan Mohamad testified in the subversion trial of Democratic People's Party (PRD) leader Budiman Sujatmiko.

Budiman and another eight PRD activists are charged with organizing labor demonstrations and failing to mention the state ideology Pancasila in the PRD statute (social democracy principles were used instead).

Goenawan, former chief editor of Tempo weekly -- banned by the government banned in 1994 -- testified in favor of Budiman.

He said the defendant had once managed to persuade activists to cancel an anti-government demonstration in Jakarta in relation to the July 27 riots last year.

The riots were sparked by the brutal takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters by a government- backed rebel party of activists.

Goenawan said that in one of PRD's meetings he saw an activist urge others to take to the street.

"But Budiman managed to calm his colleagues down, telling them their action would be useless and create anarchy unless it was supported with a clear concept," he said.

Budiman and the other PRD activists were arrested on suspicion of masterminding the July 27 riots, which claimed five lives.

However when they reached court prosecutors did not mention the incident, except to say that Budiman was a bystander.

Goenawan, now the Independent Election Monitoring Committee presidium leader, also testified he had met Budiman on the afternoon of July 27.

"Budiman came to me telling of the earlier incident at a foodstall in Senen. He condemned the riot as anarchy and said it was not a civil rebellion," he said.

The trial was adjourned until Thursday. (35/08)