Indonesian MP jailed
By James Balowski
Yet another opposition figure has been jailed for speaking out against the Suharto dictatorship. On July 21, Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) legislator Aberson Marle Sihaloho, who is a close aide to ousted PDI chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, was sentenced to six months' jail for "insulting" President Suharto.
The presiding judge told the court that Aberson had deliberately defamed the president during a speech he made at the PDI headquarters in July last year. He added that parliamentary immunity did not apply in Aberson's case because he was not in the parliament building and did not "act like" a member of the parliament.
The prosecution, which had demanded a sentence of 10 months, alleged that Aberson had told the crowd, "Throughout the 30 years of Suharto's leadership, our freedom has been stolen and we are being colonised once again".
From the beginning, Aberson denied the charges, saying, "My duty is to uphold the constitution. I have the right to speak everywhere. As a legislator, I could not do [all] my work only inside the parliament building. I'm really disappointed that a House member is being prosecuted like this."
A number of foreign diplomats and scores of well known dissidents, including Megawati, attended the final session of the trial. More than 100 Megawati supporters jeered the judges as they read the verdict. Water cannons and large numbers of anti-riot police were deployed but there were no clashes.
Aberson is the second opposition legislator to be jailed this year. In March, sacked United Development Party legislator Sri Bintang Pamungkas was sentenced to 34 months on similar charges. However, this is the first time that a sitting member of parliament has been sentenced to a prison term.
Two associates of Sri Bintang, Julius Usman and Salah Abdurrahman, are also expected to be tried under similar charges. Earlier this month it was also announced that charges would be brought against Father Ignatius Sandyawan Sumardi for harbouring leaders of the People's Democratic Party while they were being hunted by the military following the July 27 riots last year.
Aberson's lawyers have appealed against the conviction.