Indonesian show trial reveals more than planned
By James Balowski
The Suharto regime's attempt to blame members of the People's Democratic Party (PRD) for the July 27 riots in Jakarta floundered after its own National Human Rights Commission refuted the allegations. Now that the trials of PRD activists have begun, prosecution witnesses are also proving uncooperative, exposing the trumped-up nature of the charges.
The trials of PRD president Budiman Sujatmiko, PRD secretary-general Petrus Haryanto, Indonesian Centre for Labour Struggles (PPBI) president Dita Sari, nine other PRD activists and labour advocate Muchtar Pakpahan started on December 9. All are charged with subversion, which carries the maximum penalty of death.
Prosecution witnesses have frequently had to be warned by the judges not to deviate from their pre-trial statements. More often than not, the witnesses have responded that the police or military forced them to make those statements.
Questions about whether PRD members had organised particular demonstrations or what they had said at public meetings often elicit responses like, "Well, I didn't actually see them there" or, "I didn't hear what they said".
On January 20, when M. Sainal Abidin, secretary of the National Peasants Union, gave evidence in Dita Sari's trial, the judge interrupted his testimony after he described how he had been arrested and beaten so badly by the military that his hearing had been impaired.
Abidin added that he hadn't seen Dita Sari being arrested because by that time he had been beaten unconscious by security personnel.
The regime has tried to force other PRD members who are also facing charges to give testimony against the accused.
On January 21, when PRD member Wilson was asked to testify against Budiman, he refused on the grounds that the date of birth on his summons was incorrect. The judge accused him of trying to prolong the proceedings, but the public gallery erupted in cheers and clapping when he replied, "My intention is not to delay the court proceedings, but to make them more professional".
After the summons was corrected two days later and Wilson was recalled, he politely refused to give evidence since, according to the Indonesian Criminal Code, he could not be forced to give evidence which might incriminate him.
Even prosecution witnesses from the Department of Labour and the government-controlled "trade union" SPSI ended up giving a favourable picture of PRD actions. They admitted that worker demonstrations organised by the PRD had been peaceful and that the workers' demands were not anti-government but limited to better wages and conditions.
They also said that after PRD and PPBI-led actions, workers' pay and conditions generally improved — and anyway, in most cases the actions simply forced the company to implement minimum wage levels set by the government.
Gunawan Mohamad, ex-editor of the magazine Tempo, which was banned by the regime in 1994, appeared as a witness in Budiman's trial on January 27. Gunawan said that the PRD manifesto cited as evidence by the prosecution was very different from the one actually distributed.
Outspoken parliamentarian Sri Bintang Pamungkas, who is on trial for "insulting the president" and who recently formed the Indonesian United Democratic Party (PUDI), was called to give evidence against Petrus on January 16. Asked if Petrus had made anti-government statements at the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute on July 22, Bintang said that he had spoken about the social gap, poverty and injustice.
Bintang added, "I'm a rebel who is resisting the government, not Petrus Haryanto!". He repeated, in response to another question, "PUDI is the one who explicitly wants to overthrow the government. I am really the rebel!".
The trials and the PRD have attracted considerable public attention. In late December, nearly all of the country's major newspapers and tabloids carried special reports.
On the whole the coverage was favourable, with Budiman being able to give a number of interviews full of the PRD's criticisms of the regime.
This, combined with government statements that the PRD are communists because "they organised workers to struggle for better wages and conditions", has only added to their appeal. Among Indonesian youth, Budiman and Dita are on the verge of becoming popular heroes.
As it became clear that such reporting was undermining the regime's propaganda against the PRD, it moved quickly to curtail media coverage.
The Jakarta daily Republika, for example, announced a series of articles on the PRD, but the day after the first was published, the paper a carried a notice: "We apologise to our readers that we will be unable to publish our planned series on the PRD ..."
[James Balowski travelled in Indonesia in December.]