By Max Lane
On April 22, a kangaroo court in Surabaya handed down a prison sentence of six years to Dita Sari, leader of the Indonesian Centre for Working Class Struggle. The prosecution had demanded nine years. Dita's co-defendants, Coen Hussein Pontoh and Mohammed Soleh, were each sentenced four years. Dita and her lawyers immediately denounced the trial as a farce and swore to continue the struggle.
Hundreds of people, many wearing the symbol of Megawati's Indonesian Democracy Party (PDI), had assembled at the courtroom in the morning.
According to a statement issue by the Democracy Struggle Committee, there was a larger security presence than normal. Trucks of soldiers, two armoured cars, one platoon of East Java territorial command troops, mobile brigade troops and scores of plain-clothes intelligence agents were assembled. There were also numbers of paid thugs used by the local branch of the state party, Golkar.
When Sari and Coen arrived, the military formed a cordon to prevent supporters from greeting them. Both wore red bandannas with the slogan "Democracy or Death!". The crowd followed them inside the courtroom, shouting, "Long live the people! Long live democracy! Long live the PRD and PDI! Long live Dita, Coen!".
Dita and Coen replied with cries of "Long live Megawati! The elections are illegitimate! Without Megawati, boycott the elections!"
Dita, who received strong applause in the courtroom, asked permission to distribute flowers and hand out leaflets calling for a boycott of the May 29 elections. Immediately intelligence agents snatched the leaflets away from her.
When the chief judge read out the sentences, the crowd responded with, "The court is rigged". Dita stood up and led the crowd in singing "Hymn of struggle", after which she and Coen were led to a waiting van.
Coen was able to speak to the crowd and again called on people to boycott the elections. The security forces then dispersed the crowd, beating up one activist.
Later that day, a local alliance of militant pro-democracy forces issued a statement condemning the sentences. The Struggle Alliance for Human Rights and Democracy, which consists of Christian Community Action for Human Rights, Megawati Support Team, Democracy Struggle Committee and the Communication Forum for Peace in East Timor, also called for Megawati's leadership of the PDI to be recognised and stated that without her participation the elections were null and void.
It also called for all PRD political prisoners to be freed, the repeal of repressive political laws, the end of the military's role in politics, the repeal of the anti-subversion law and a self-determination referendum for East Timor.